Beluša – St Anne’s Chapel

History

   The church was built around 1300. Apparently in the fourteenth century, the interior was plastered and decorated with wall paintings. The building lost its original position when a new church of St. Elizabeth of Hungary was built next to it around 1560. From the second half of the eighteenth century, the building ceased to serve the liturgical purpose and turned into a morgue. Later the church was used as a granary. In 1817 it was repaired and subsequent repairs connected with the researches were carried out in the years 1968 – 1969.

Architecture

   The chapel was built as a simple structure with an almost square nave and a semicircular apse on the eastern side of the same width as the nave. The ogival, moulded entrance portal was placed in the west facade. Lighting was provided inside only by two small, narrow windows in the southern elevation and one in the eastern elevation. Only a small slit was pierced on the north side. The interior was originally covered with Gothic wall polychromes.

Current state

   The chapel has been preserved in its original shape as one of the few unchanged medieval sacral buildings in the region. Unfortunately, only small remains are visible of the original wall polychromes, probably damaged during the renovation in 1968-1969. During the above renovation works, the crown of the perimeter walls was also rebuilt, which made it impossible to explain the original solution of the roof structure. In 1990, the external facades of the church were renovated.

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bibliography:
Website apsida.sk, Beluša.