History
The church in Diviaky was first mentioned in the sources of 1232, but it is assumed that the beginning of its construction dates back to the 12th century. Its founders was probably the Diviakovci family. In the 70s and 80s of the 18th century it was rebuilt in the baroque style. The nave and apse were given new vaults, and the sacristy was attached to the north side of the apse. The stability of the building has been strengthened by external buttresses. In 1936, the church underwent a thorough reconstruction, when it was confirmed the romanesque origin of the entire building and several romanesque and gothic details were discovered.
Architecture
The church is a single-nave building with a semicircular and very wide apse from the east. On the west side, the facade is crowned with two romanesque towers and the entire west massif is the same width as the nave. The building is bricked with precisely worked tuff blocks of 30 x 40 cm. Its external elevations were probably not divided at first, the buttresses surrounding the church were probably added at a later stage. On the southern side of the nave there is a romanesque portal, and on the north side of the apse there is a gothic portal leading to the sacristy. Further on the north side of the nave is a late gothic portal leading to the annex.
The original cross vaults preserved only in the space between the towers, which originally opened on the nave with three arcades, and on the first floor the inter-tower space, also cross-vaulted, was connected by arcades with towers interiors. All this tripartite space was separated by a full wall from the nave. The only connection was a small portal placed in the inter-tower part of the building. In addition, the floor of the northern tower had a window overlooking the nave. In the eastern wall of the south tower there was a large niche, in which you can see the altar recess. It is not known whether the separated, closed space of the west massif was connected with the gallery in the nave or from the small portal led the wooden stairs to the nave. Interior of the nave originally had flat timber ceiling.
The upper part of the towers massif is separated from the inside of the church in a way that ensured defensive values. Striving for defense is also ensured by slit windows similar to arrowslits and rare vaults over the upper floors of the towers, securing their interiors against the effects of fires in the truss of helmets.
Current state
The building is the oldest preserved church in Upper Nitra region and one of the best examples of romanesque architecture in Slovakia, additionally having rare architectural solutions inside the western massif. From the gothic period, two wooden, iron-framed, 15th-century doors have been preserved.
bibliography:
Mencl V., Stredoveká architektúra na Slovensku, Praha 1937.
Tomaszewski A., Romańskie kościoły z emporami zachodnimi na obszarze Polski, Czech i Węgier, Wrocław 1974.
Website apsida.sk, Diviaky nad Nitricou.