Lukov (Slovakia)

Lukov (1927 to 1946 Slovak Lukov nad Topľou, German Dornau , Hungarian Lukó ) is a municipality in eastern Slovakia with 644 inhabitants (as of December 31, 2019), which belongs to the Okres Bardejov , part of the eastern Slovakian administrative region Prešovský kraj . Lukov is best known for the Greek Catholic wooden church from 1708 in the Lukov-Venécia district .

Location and traffic

Thoroughfare to the north

The municipality is located at an altitude of 422 meters in a valley through which the Topľa brook flows on the northern slope of the Čergov Mountains, which belong to the Western Carpathians . The valley ends 5 kilometers south at the next village Livov. The district town of Bardejov in the east is 18 kilometers from Lukov and Stará Ľubovňa in the west 37 kilometers away. From the expressway I / 77 connecting the two cities, a side road (3183) branches off to the south in the municipality of Malcov , which leads through the town after 1.5 kilometers. There is no direct connection between the Lukov valley and the parallel valley to the east via the forested range of hills in between. Two more wooden churches have been preserved there in the villages of Krivé and Hervartov .

Lukov can be reached directly from Bardejov several times a day by buses that go via Livov to the terminus Livovská Huta, a 653 meter high settlement at the source of the Topľa.

history

The village has probably existed since the 13th century and was first mentioned in writing in 1264. In 1355 Lukov belonged to the Nový hrad estate . Wallachian colonization reached the place in the 16th century ; towards the end of the 16th century Lukov was a medium-sized town with a predominantly Russian population. There was a potash factory in operation in the 18th century, and a paper mill in the second half of the 19th century. For the year 1828 112 houses and 870 inhabitants are recorded.

Since 1944 (according to other information, 1943) the settlement Venécia west of the main town belongs to the municipality. Venécia was founded by a mayor with his inmates around 1400. The name is probably an alienation of the Latin name of Venice , as the first inhabitants were glassblowers from the island of Murano in the lagoon of Venice . In 1828 there are 41 houses and 336 inhabitants for Venécia.

population

Greek Catholic Church in the town center

The results of the 2001 census, when the parish had 560 inhabitants, are:

By ethnicity:

93.39% Slovaks
3.39% ruthenes
1.25% Ukrainians
0.71% gypsies

By religion:

48.57% Orthodox
36.61% Greek Catholic
5.54% Roman Catholic
5.18% no information

Townscape

The larger district of Lukov is a street village on the east side of the Topľa, in the middle of which is the Greek Catholic Church of Our Lady ( Chrám Ochrany Presvätej Bohorodičky ) , built around 1800 . The brick single-nave church has a round apse on the east side and a two-storey bell tower on the gable of the western entrance side with an onion dome roof . The church is surrounded by orchards and two-storey residential houses, the gables of which are oriented towards the thoroughfare.

In the smaller district of Lukov-Venécia opposite on the western side of the stream, another small, brick church can be seen 300 meters away on a hill. It stands not far from the wooden church surrounded by a forest.

Wooden church

Wooden church from the southwest

The wooden church dedicated to Kosmas and Damian from the years 1708-09 is a national cultural monument and is one of the 27 Greek-Catholic wooden churches that have survived in eastern Slovakia from the 18th century. Stylistically, two types of Slovak wooden churches are distinguished. In the elaborate Lemkian type, the three building parts, the square anteroom under the tower, the main room (prayer room) and - behind the iconostasis - the sanctuary (presbytery, priest's room) are visibly separated from the outside by separate roof structures. Walls and sloping ceilings are formed by layers of beams joined in block construction . In the simpler type of construction, the three building parts are housed under a common gable roof constructed with rafters . An example of a Lemkish-style church is in Jedlinka ; the churches in Topoľa and in the neighboring town of Krivé have gable roofs.

icon

The wooden church of Lukov-Venécia is a transitional form with an elongated gable roof, which is broken through by an entrance tower and a three-tier roof structure over the eastern half of the main room. Furthermore, a small decorative tower sits on the ridge of the narrower sanctuary built on to the east. Only in the main room does the block construction wall not end at the level of the eaves, but is led inwards with a double-stepped arch to an open area in the middle. This is closed horizontally with boards so that a kind of mirror vault is created. The gable roof, which protrudes over both long sides and is supported by posts, forms an open gallery ( piddashya ), which forms a partial connection with the open anteroom under the tower. This canopy is just as unusual as the high stone foundation on which the church stands, which is necessary because of the hillside location on the east side. A wooden staircase leads from the vestibule to the belfry with two bells that can be rung with ropes from below.

The iconostasis, mostly from the 18th century, contains some valuable icons , including a 16th-century Byzantine style depiction of the Last Judgment . A Deësis icon with the Church Slavonic inscription "Christ the High Priest and Mary Queen" dates from 1680. The central holy door (tsar door) of the iconostasis, which is only opened for the celebration of the Eucharist , contains the Annunciation , the four evangelists and scenes, in which the handkerchief of Veronica is shown. The church was restored in 2005 with support from the World Monuments Fund . It is usually locked.

Web links

Commons : Lukov - collection of images, videos and audio files

Saints Cosmos and Damian. World Monuments Fund
Lukov – Venécia. Travel in Slovakia

Individual evidence

^ Ernst Hochberger: Architecture, visual arts and music in Slovakia. 2.3. Greek Catholic wooden churches. In: Jörg Meier (Ed.): Contributions to the cultural history of the Germans in Slovakia . Weidler Buchverlag, Berlin 2006, pp. 162–168
↑ Vera Mayer: Holzkirchen. Newly discovered building culture in Bohemia, Moravia, Silesia and Slovakia. Herold, Vienna / Munich 1986, p. 45
↑ Vera Mayer, 1986, p. 86
^ Ernst Hochberger: The great book of Slovakia . Hochberger, Sinn 1997, p. 75
↑ Stephen J. Kelley, Vincent Obsitnik: Wooden Wonders of the Carpathians. World Monuments Fund, 2004/2005, p. 19

[1] Ernst Hochberger: Architecture, visual arts and music in Slovakia. 2.3. Greek Catholic wooden churches. In: Jörg Meier (Ed.): Contributions to the cultural history of the Germans in Slovakia . Weidler Buchverlag, Berlin 2006, pp. 162–168

[2] Vera Mayer: Holzkirchen. Newly discovered building culture in Bohemia, Moravia, Silesia and Slovakia. Herold, Vienna / Munich 1986, p. 45

[3] Vera Mayer, 1986, p. 86

[4] Ernst Hochberger: The great book of Slovakia . Hochberger, Sinn 1997, p. 75

[5] Stephen J. Kelley, Vincent Obsitnik: Wooden Wonders of the Carpathians. World Monuments Fund, 2004/2005, p. 19