History
The first church was built in Moldava nad Bodvou probably in the 13th century. In written sources, the local parish was mentioned in 1329 and in the list of papal tithes from 1332-1337. In the fifteenth century, a new three-aisle church was erected on the site of an older building, made by builders of workshop erecting the church of St. Elizabeth in Košice. In 1644, the church burnt down, but it was repaired in 1646. The fire in 1794 had worse consequences, followed by a thorough reconstruction in the baroque-classicist style. As a result, three aisles of the nave were joined into one large space and a new classicist tower was erected. The building was repaired in 1895-1896, but was seriously damaged in 1944 during World War II.
Architecture
The late-medieval, Gothic church consisted of a nave with two side aislees of a hall form and a three-side ended chancel on the eastern side. It had buttressed walls, between which high, Gothic windows with stone traceries were placed. The side aisles ended in the east with polygonal chapels slightly protruding from the outline of the nave walls.
In the southern aisle there is a richly moulded, ogival portal crowned with an ogee arch and four massive pinnacles, and provided with a clearance with a cut trefoil. The pinnacles were connected with each other with short cornices, which formed a step pattern with similarly moulded pinnacles. They were mounted on two carved consoles and on two capitals crowning the half-columns flanking the entrance.
Inside the presbytery, two bays were covered with a cross-rib vault, and over the eastern polygonal closure, a six-section vault (cross-rib vault with two additional ribs from the east) was installed. The ribs were mounted on the walls without the use of corbels, while at the top they were fastened with round bosses.
Current state
The church was completely rebuilt in the 18th century and has lost much of its late Gothic appearance. Currently, its medieval past is mainly remembered by the polygonal chancel with a chancel arcade and the southern outer facade of the nave with its portal and corner chapel at the end of the former southern aisle. A Gothic rib vault has been preserved in the presbytery.
bibliography:
Website apsida.sk, Moldava nad Bodvou.