Evangelical 'Articled' Wooden Church at Hronsek

Name:

Evanjelický drevený artikulárny kostol v Hronseku

Contact: Evanjelický farský úrad Evangelical Parish Office

Address:

976 31 Hronsek, Slovakia

Mailing address:

Evanjelický augsburského vyznania farský úrad Hronsek, Krčméryho 8, 976 31 Hronsek, Slovakia

Telephone:

421 (0) 48 418 8165

Hours:

10am-5pm daily except during church services

Evangelical ´Articled ´Wooden Church at Hronsek (Monuments Board of the SR Archives, photo by Peter Fratr

One of five 'Articled' evangelical churches, so called because they were built under the article of the law issued in 1681 by Emperor Leopold I in an attempt to halt the spread of protestantism. As such they had to be built at the edge of a village with the entrance facing away it and to be constructed only from wood with no foundations, towers or bells. It was originally planned to build 38 wooden articled churches in Slovakia but only nine were built and of these five have survived. All of them were designed in the form of a 'Greek cross'.

Built from oak and spruce, the 26m L x 11m W x 8m H wooden church at Hronsek dates from 1725-6 and is set against a stunning backdrop of large lime trees. The simple design accommodates 1,100 chairs. The organ, by Master Martin Podkonicky, was fitted in 1764 and is still in working order. A fine wooden belfry from 1726 stands nearby. The poet Andrej Sládkovič, a member of the Štúr literary group, married local girl Júlia Senkovičová in this church.

The church at Hronsek, along with seven other wooden churches of the Slovak part of Carpathian Mountain Area, has been included on the UNESCO's Word Heritage List.