First published: 30/10/11.

Assif 2.0

Wooden Churches Of The Slovak Carpathians

Wooden Churches of the Slovak Carpathians (Inscribed)

Wooden Churches of the Slovak Carpathians by Els Slots

During my trip to the Tatra Mountains I have been to the historic town of Kezmarok (Käsmark) not far away from Levoca, which is another WHS. Kezmarok used to be another Carpathian Saxon town with typical German architecture. The town is very nice and can easily serve as a base for day trips to the Tatra Mountains. The WHS part of town is its wooden Protestant church, originally built outside the city walls.

As the Austro-Hungarian rule was Catholic Protestantism was discouraged. As a result the local Protestant church had to be built outside. It was forbidden to use stone in its construction and its height was limited. The local Germans overcame these difficulties with quite an amazing construction. From the outside the church looks rather plain and this is in fact the only photo available online, but once getting inside the building, the elaborate Baroque decoration strikes you. It's design for itself is not that extraordinary but the fact it's all made of wood, straw and metal.

The church still serves the local German minority. It was also very interesting to talk German with them and listen to their stories about growing up in Communist Czechoslovakia and having to cope with strong anti German emotions. Funny how luck changes...

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