St. Martin's Cathedral (Spišská Kapitula)
The Cathedral of St. Martin ( Slovak Katedrála svätého Martina ) is a Gothic, originally Romanesque cathedral in Spišská Kapitula ( Spiš Chapter ), today a district of Spišské Podhradie ( Church on the top ) in the Spiš region . It is consecrated to St. Martin of Tours and is the cathedral church of the Spis diocese and part of the UNESCO World Heritage “ Levoča , Spis Castle and associated cultural monuments”.
First the cathedral was built as a Romanesque church in the years 1245–1273. The result was a mighty three-aisled basilica , with all aisles being the same width, but the main nave twice as high. Each nave ended in semicircular apses . The two Romanesque towers were built at the same time. The capitals show rich Romanesque ornamentation. Part of the north wall of the Romanesque church with a Romanesque portal and the east wall with a still recognizable triumphal arch are still present. In 1328 the "Corporis Christi" chapel was added.
The basilica served the provost for a good 200 years, but in the 15th century it was necessary to repair it due to its decay and a larger influx of believers. In 1462 the provost Johann Stock began the renovation with the laying of the foundation stone, but died in Buda in 1464. The new provost Gaspar Back continued the repairs. A Gothic choir was built. The side aisles were raised to the level of the main nave, so that a hall church was created. Although the new church with the main altar was consecrated in 1478, the vaults of the side aisles were not completed until 1497.
In 1493–99 the new Zápolya chapel was built on the site of the old chapel , similar to the church of St. Ladislaus in Spišský Štvrtok . This happened a few years after the Zápolya dynasty became hereditary clans of Spiš County . The chapel is connected to the church by two open arcades. It has large windows with late Gothic tracery and a reticulated vault .
Later baroque redesigns were reversed in a regotization in the years 1873–89. Since 1776 the church has been the seat of the Diocese of Spiš.
Among the most valuable pieces of equipment in the church are the Romanesque sculpture of a lion ( Leo albus ), which stands behind the north entrance of the cathedral, and a mural from 1317, rediscovered in 1861, depicting the coronation of Charles Robert of Anjou as King of Hungary. While the baroque main altar was replaced by a neo-Gothic one in the 19th century, some of the original side altars remained, such as the Three Kings Altar, the Altar of St. Michael and the Altar of the Dormition, all from the last third of the 15th century.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Románska bazilika , kapitula.sk , accessed on June 28, 2011 ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ a b Cathedral of St. Martin - Spišská Kapitula, slovakia.travel, accessed on June 28, 2011 ( memento of the original from June 27, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Stavebné zmeny v 15.storočí , kapitula.sk , accessed on June 28, 2011 ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Zápoľskí a ich kaplnka , kapitula.sk , accessed on June 28, 2011 ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
Web links
- St. Martin's Cathedral (Spišská Kapitula) Images sekulada.com, accessed June 19, 2016
Coordinates: 49 ° 0 ′ 1.7 ″ N , 20 ° 44 ′ 26.8 ″ E