History
The church was built in the no longer existing village of Pominovce (“villa Pomnen”) in the 12th century. The village disappeared already in the Middle Ages. According to the local tradition, it was caused by the flooding of the Vah River, after which the population moved and founded the settlement Sedmerovec, but it is possible that the destruction was caused by the armed invasion of Moravians.
In the 18th century, the capacity of the small church was increased by the addition of wooden galleries on the southern and northern walls of the nave, but in the first half of the 19th century they were removed due to poor condition. In 1884, the neglected building was renovated, with new columns installed in the tower windows and a new entrance portal. Professional repair of the church took place in 1936, and the last restoration began in 2008. During its course, wall paintings were discovered inside.
Architecture
The church was erected of a single-nave building measuring 8.1 x 6.6 meters with a semicircular apse on the eastern side (2.3 x 4.5 meters) and a turret built into the nave on the west side. Its top is 12 meters high. The lighting of the church was provided by small, semicircular windows, splayed on both sides: two in the southern wall of the nave and one in the apse. The penultimate storey of the tower was also illuminated with simple, single-light windows, and its top floor with two-light windows on each side. An additional small window on the south side of the apse was probably added in the Gothic period, while the miniature oculus in the west wall illuminated the gallery.
Inside the nave, on its western side, there was a stone gallery erected. It was placed on two massive four-sided pillars, decorated with slight cornices and pedestals, forming three semicircular arcades. The entrance to it was originally located in the northern part of the nave, while the space under the gallery was topped with a barrel vault. The first floor also opened onto the nave with three semicircular arcades and was connected to the tower. Originally, the walls of the church were covered with wall polychromes, the nave was covered with a flat ceiling, and the apse was traditionally covered with a conch.
Current state
Due to the disappearance of the local village, the picturesquely situated church has survived without any major early modern transformations, practically in its original form, which is an example of a Romanesque gallery (matroneum) church. The only changes affected the way of enter to the gallery and a new, small opening on the south side illuminating it. The entrance portal and the weathered columns in the tower’s biforas were also replaced.
bibliography:
Website apsida.sk, Sedmerovec.