St. Nicholas Church

Bodružal, Slovakia

St. Nicholas Church is a wooden Greek Catholic Church of the Eastern Rite situated in a village Bodruzal in Svidnik district in the Presov region. It is registered on the UNESCO's World Heritage List as part of the Wooden Churches of the Slovak part of the Carpathian Mountain Area.

The church is part of a unique urban entity situated on an elevated place in the village centre. Apart from the church it is made up of a separate bell tower, an adjacent cemetery and a wooden enclosure with a shingle roof and an entrance gate covered by a conical and an onion shape roof.

The church itself is a prototype church of the so-called Lemko type. It dates back to 1658 and belongs to the oldest wooden sacral buildings of the Eastern Rites in Slovakia.

The church has three towers. The construction is made out of logs, in a shape of three squares arranged on the same axis oriented from east to west. The exterior is decorated with vertically laid planks. The logs were also used on the construction of imitation tiered corbelled arches (of a truncated pyramid) in the sanctum and the nave. The arrangement of individual parts of the church represents the Holy Trinity. The church is situated on the highest hillock of the village. With its location it is higher than the rest of the buildings and houses.

The roof is made out of shingles. The tent roof above the presbytery and the nave is finished with a short square structure, to which conical bodies are attached to. To them baroque onion-like little roofs are fixed, finished with small shingle conical heads set with wrought iron crosses.

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Bodružal, Slovakia
See all sites in Bodružal

Details

Founded: 1658
Category: Religious sites in Slovakia

Rating

4.7/5 (based on Google user reviews)

User Reviews

Robin Smith (10 months ago)
Closed but a beautiful church
Şilan Jakab (11 months ago)
The lady was insane. She accused from nothing that I took photos of church and asked for money (indeed, there was no sign that it's paid). In official page of church there was no fee, not even anywhere was written, however she asked for this as well. She asked for this compulsory "gift" and unless didn't let us. She was screaming and for this accusation she didn't apologise. Although, I was wishing to show her that I didn't take any photos of church, she didn't want to look at it. Very rude person.
Miriam Nazarejova (11 months ago)
If you are planning on visiting make sure to bring cash. The entry fee which includes a lecture and taking pictures inside the church is 3€.
Vital Kokhanau (2 years ago)
Amazing and sacred place. The church keeper is amazing and super informative. For 3€ you can get an excursion and take interesting pictures
Patti Miller (2 years ago)
Lovely church. We called ahead and they told us to call when we arrived. They let us right in. We were given a lovely introduction to the church and learned all about it's history. Gorgeous murals on the walls.
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Visby Cathedral (also known as St. Mary’s Church) is the only survived medieval church in Visby. It was originally built for German merchants and inaugurated in 1225. Around the year 1350 the church was enlarged and converted into a basilica. The two-storey magazine was also added then above the nave as a warehouse for merchants.

Following the Reformation, the church was transformed into a parish church for the town of Visby. All other churches were abandoned. Shortly after the Reformation, in 1572, Gotland was made into its own Diocese, and the church designated its cathedral.

There is not much left of the original interior. The font is made of local red marble in the 13th century. The pulpit was made in Lübeck in 1684. There are 400 graves under the church floor.