Churches - Wooden Churches in Slovakia

On the whole, five Roman Catholic, five Lutheran and about forty Greek Catholic wooden churches have been preserved in Slovakia. Twenty seven of them have been declared national cultural monuments and eight of them were inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List on July 7, 2008. The book Churches - Wooden Churches in Slovakia is a special monumental book with many photographs and Slovak-English text.

Author of photographs is well-known Slovak photographer Karol Kallay. "To make people encounter a world full of beauty is truly as important as to hold scenes of poverty, tragedies and despair. It`s not only beauty what hides inside the wooden churches, but also a belief in goodness, love, hope and mercy," writes Karol Kallay.

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Prikra 1777

The wooden churches are similar to single temple of Israel and keep its mission alive. The earlier one also had an outer bailey, then a tabernacle or sanctuary and in the middle of it the Most Holy Place separated by a curtain, where the Ark of the Covenant, mercy seat (the Ark`s cover) and the two Cherubim were deposited. This is where the glory of God dwelled. During wandering of the Israelites the Ark was the centre of the camp, and after settling down became a heart of Jerusalem. The church is a microcosmos, a universe on a small scale. It contains all the glory also in the middle of the humble Carpathian villages.

Marian Gavenda, priest

Bodruzal (UNESCO)

The Tserkva of St. Nicholas was built by nameless carpenters in 1658. Although having seen a number of renovations, it is one of our oldest and best preserved churches of the Eastern Rite. Its architecture and the churchyard area that includes wooden wall fence with a gate, a detached belfry and a graveyard, merge in an natural set-up dominating the village and form a unique compound. A rare construction of the temple is its doorway with the date 1692 carved on it. A unique 18th century wall painting, preserved on the northern wall of the nave, depicts scenes of the Last judgement and Calvary with the Hole trinity, angels and apostles sitting around. The baroque iconostasis is embellished with a coat of grey-green marbling and characteristic gilding of the wood-carved artwork.

Milos Dudas, National Heritage specialist