History
The church was built in the second or third decade of the 13th century. Around 1550 or at the beginning of the 16th century, the building was enlarged. The original apse was replaced by a polygonal presbytery, a tower was added from the west, and the central nave was widened with aisles. At the end of the seventeenth century, the temple was in bad condition, in the second decade of the eighteenth century there was even the threat of collapse. The change took place in 1752 when a thorough renovation of the building was carried out. An important breakthrough in the architectural development of the building was a fire in 1915. In the following years, the aisles were removed and original facades were discovered. Another reconstruction of the church took place in 1940-1943. At that time, the tower was removed and the façade was restored to the original state.
Architecture
Originally, the church was a single-nave building, rectangular in plan, without a tower, and probably with a semicircular apse on the eastern side. Its facades were decorated with brick blind arcades with semicircular closures (pilaster strips), which together with the frieze above form one of the most beautiful examples of the Romanesque wall. The frieze was made of obliquely positioned bricks in a triangular pattern. There were twelve pilaster strips on the side walls, while the western one had eight. Romanesque portals were located in the west and south walls of the nave.
In the first half of the 16th century, after removing the romanesque apse, a late-gothic presbytery was built with a polygonal, buttressed closure. In addition, a tower was added to the west facade, and the nave was widened by lower aisles. At the same time, it was vaulted and, in connection with the new chancel, slightly extended to the east. Originally, the chancel was also topped with a vault.
bibliography:
Mencl V., Stredoveká architektúra na Slovensku, Praha 1937.
Website apsida.sk, Čierny Brod.