Banská Štiavnica – St Catherine’s Church

Historia

   Late gothic church of St. Catherine was built in the years 1488-1491. Until 1500, works on the decor of the church were underway, then it was also consecrated. In the years 1580 – 1672 it was used by Evangelicals. In 1658, masses in Slovak began to be celebrated in it, therefore the name of the “Slovak church” clung to the temple. At the end of the 19th century, the building was regothisated.

Architektura

   The church had the form of a single-nave, three-bay structure with a polygonal closure on the eastern side and a series of chapels on the sides of the nave. The nave was opened towards them with pointed arches, and the chapels themselves were topped with net vaults of various compositions. Two bays of the nave and the closure were topped with a stellar vault. Due to the unstable, sloping ground above the tunnels drilled beneath the Holy Trinity Square, it was not possible to place an overly extensive system of pillars and arches, therefore the function of relieving the walls of the nave, partly took over the surrounding side chapels. The towers were also not built, and the only accent outside the nave is the circular staircase, built into the annexe, and the ridge turret on the gable roof.

show this monument on map

return to alphabetical index

bibliography:
Website wikipedia.org, Kostol svätej Kataríny (Banská Štiavnica).