Modra – St John’s Church

History

   The church was probably built around the middle of the 13th century in the center of a Slavic settlement. In the 14th century, the building underwent several transformations, which largely hid its original early Gothic form and also significantly enlarged and changed the style to high Gothic.
   During the Reformation, the church was taken by Protestants, who in the middle of the 16th century demolished the western tower, and at the turn of the 16th and 17th centuries, in the western part of the nave built a brick gallery and porch from the west entrance, and a two-space mortuary in the north. Most likely, they also painted over the medieval wall paintings decorating the interior. Catholics regained the church in 1635.
   In 1763 the chancel was rebuilt, the chancel arcade was widened, new vaults and transformed windows were installed, and a new sacristy was added to the southern side of the chancel. Minor modifications were made in the 19th and 20th centuries. In 2011, the renovation of the building began, which explained its architectural development and brought the discovery of medieval frescoes.

Architecture

   The church was built as a relatively large one-nave building with a polygonal chancel on the eastern side and a sacristy on the north side. In the last quarter of the fourteenth century, the western wall of the nave was removed, and its space was extended by about two-thirds to the west. The new façade was created by the tower, the foundations of which were about 3 meters thick. At the same time, the perimeter walls of the nave were raised by about 1.5 meters. Narrow, early gothic lancet windows were replaced with much larger, gothic ogival windows. At that time, the original, southern entrance to the nave was walled up, and its function was taken over by a portal located approximately in the center of the extended nave. Another entrance was created in the western wall. The interior was decorated with wall paintings already in the 13th century, and a stone lavabo was placed in the sacristy.

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bibliography:
Website apsida.sk, Modra.