History
The church was built in the first half of the 13th century, probably as a pilgrimage temple. In the second half of the thirteenth century it was enlarged by a tower over the central part. Around 1646, the western apse was removed and replaced with a longitudinal aisle. In 1748, the church was damaged by lightning, and in 1950 the tower received a new metal roof in place of an older, shingle one.
Architecture
The original church was built on a rocky hill above the village in the Hornáda valley, as a central structure, a stone rotunda with a square central space and four apses (tetrakonchos). The apses were connected directly to each other, so that there was no space for the corners of the central nave. Only above their roofs, the central part, slightly narrower than the width of the apse, was raised by 2.4 meters to the shape of a tower in the second half of the 13th century. Bricks were already used during the extension instead stones. The superstructure was lit by two-light windows with a central pillar, set in pointed recesses, indicating the intertwining of the Gothic and Romanesque styles.
The original rotunda was 10.6 meters long on the north-south line, and the inner square to which the apses were added was approximately 4×4 meters. The diameter of the apses was about 4 meters, and the thickness of their walls was 1.2 meters. The original entrance portal was found in the southwestern part of the eastern apse.
Current state
The church of the Holy Trinity is a unique building in Slovakia, for which the closest similar solutions can be found in Czech churches in Řeznovice and Řeporyje, whose form was characteristic of Byzantine architecture or the region of northern Italy. The greater the pity that it did not survive in its original shape, but was distorted by the demolition of the western apse and the addition of an early modern nave. Apparently, recently there were also plans to demolish another apse in order to erect a sacristy in its place, but luckily it were not carried out.
bibliography:
Mencl V., Stredoveká architektúra na Slovensku, Praha 1937.
Website apsida.sk, Chrasť nad Hornádom.