Kšinná – St Cosmas and Damian’s Church

History

   The church was built between 1230 and 1250 by a Benedictine workshop from the Ludanice Abbey. At the beginning of the 14th century, a sacristy was added to it from the north, and in the later Gothic period, the interiors were decorated with frescoes. During the Reformation, the church for some time passed into the hands of Evangelicals, who built timber galleries around the nave walls for the congregation, as evidenced by the canonical visitation of 1729. In 1949, the church burnt down after a lightning strike. The interior fittings (benches, galleries, organs) and the roof with a turret were destroyed. In 2009, the parish received a grant for renovation.

Architecture

   The building consists of a rectangular nave 6.7 meters long and a semicircular apse 5.5 meters long. A sacristy was situated on the north side, but it was added to the nave, not to the chancel, which was not a typical solution. Small window openings, letting little light in, were placed in the southern wall of the nave, in the eastern part of the apse and in the eastern wall of the sacristy. Inside, on the north and south sides of the apse, niches were placed in the walls opposite to each other, probably serving as sedilia. Originally, the area around the church, situated on the hill, was surrounded by a wall that separated the cemetery by the building.

Current state

   The church has practically been preserved in its original form, with no significant later modifications, except for the turret on the ridge. The original window openings in the southern wall of the nave, apse and sacristy, and fragments of medieval polychrome inside have preserved.

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bibliography:
Website apsida.sk, Kšinná.