Roman Catholic parish
of Saint Francisco of Assisi Poniky

Tour of the church

If you are interested in a tour of the church, please contact us in advance at +421 (048) 4193263. The tour is free of charge.

We do not escort unannounced visits to the church. Please do not ask us to give you a tour of the church between the hours of 12 – 2 pm.

The following are available for church visitors:

  • Postcards physically in the church.
  • Booklet on church iconography SK to read online and physically in the church.
  • Booklet on church iconography EN to read online and physically in the church.
  • Booklet on church iconography HU physically in the church.
  • Booklet on church iconography DE physically in the church.
  • Booklet on church iconography FR physically in the church.

Poniky - history of the church

Patronage

Denomination

  • roman-catholic

Origin

  • first quarter of the 14th century

Address

  • Do Hája 9, 976 33 Poniky
  • GPS 48.70898, 19.29028
  • In a fenced area on a hill above the village.

Brief description

An early Gothic single-nave church with a square presbytery, a northern side chapel, a sacristy and an ossuary.

History

The church was built in the first quarter of the 14th century in an elevated position. The permission to build the church dedicated to St. John the Evangelist on the property of Peter and Tomáš, sons of Master Filip Donč of Zvolen, was issued by Archbishop Tomáš of Esztergom in 1310. By the end of the first quarter of the century it seems to have stood.


It was a typical village church of those times. The simple building consisted of a longitudinal nave, a square presbytery and a northern sacristy. Similar buildings can also be found in nearby Čerín or Horná Mičina.


Already in 1325, the Franciscan chapter from the monastery in the nearby Slovenská Ľupča was held in the church and the Franciscan motifs are reflected in the fresco decoration, which dates back to two main stages (around 1380 and 1415). However, it is not clear when the patronage was changed to the present one.


In the last third of the 15th century, modifications in the late Gothic style were carried out in several stages. Around 1470, the south window of the presbytery was enlarged and several architectural elements and lining were painted red (renewed in the last restoration in the 20th century). A large painting of the Ladislaus Legend on the north wall of the nave dates from 1478.


A significant intervention in the form of the church was the late Gothic reconstruction dating back to the period around 1490 (the literature also mentions the year 1512 and 1478). It included the addition of a side chapel opening into the nave with a semicircular arch on the north side (an unknown image under the painting of St George and a large part of the Nativity of St John the Baptist were destroyed) and a smaller ossuary, the western wall of which is at the level of the west front of the church. The newly added chapel was at the same time decorated with murals. The west portal in this façade was also created at this time.


At the beginning of the 16th century, minor alterations were made to the interior, but also the paintings in the interior and exterior were painted over. During the Reformation, the church was used alternately by Protestants and Catholics. The church and the whole village fell on hard times in the second half of the 17th century, when Poniky was twice sacked and burnt down by Turkish troops (1663 and 1678). During this period, the church was even used as a stable for the Turks. In 1709 the church finally belonged to the Catholics. The construction of the fortification of the church dates back to the 16th century.


The extensive Baroque reconstruction was carried out between 1752 and 1764. The church received new interior furnishings and the nave and chapel were vaulted with brick. In the western part of the nave a brick tribune was built. The Gothic windows of the nave and the south portal were also bricked up. The nave was newly lit by two larger windows. The lighting of the north chapel was also redesigned, where instead of the two original bricked-up windows, one new one was broken through, located in the middle of the north wall. A new window was also created in the north wall of the sacristy. In 1778 the brick tribune was enlarged with a wooden imaginary part.


In 1810, a brick foundation of the belfry was added to the western front, which was followed by a wooden superstructure. In the lower part of the bell tower a so-called begging room was built.


Minor modifications were also carried out in the following decades of the 19th and 20th centuries. The turning point in the history of the church came in the second half of the 20th century. In 1961, parts of the wall paintings in the attic space were uncovered; ten years later, restoration research began, followed by a comprehensive restoration that included solving structural problems (including the removal of the Baroque vault and bell tower), reconstructing bricked-up architectural details, and restoring the wall paintings. The work was completed in 1992.

Attractions

  • Thanks to its location, the church dominates the village.
  • A wall was discovered near the southern wall of the building during the restoration, which could be a remnant of an older building on this site. However, no detailed archaeological research has been carried out here.
  • The church has undergone one of the most extensive restorations in the modern history of monument conservation in Slovakia, thanks to which it can be admired today in an almost authentic late Gothic form.
  • Among the medieval architectural elements we can find the original cross-rib vault of the presbytery and sacristy with brackets decorated with a cruciform motif, the windows of the nave, presbytery and side chapel, the older southern and younger western portal to the nave and the portal from the sanctuary to the sacristy.
  • The south portal dates from the first phase of construction and its tympanum was originally decorated with a painting of 1415, of which only a small remnant survives in the upper part, where part of the head of the Virgin Mary and the halo of the little Jesus, together with the wings of an angel, are located.
  • Late Gothic west gable portal with rich moulding and armorial shield with crossed miners‘ hammers.
  • Next to the south portal is a simple stone pile of an earlier hemispherical baptismal font, which was bricked in during the rebuilding of the late 15th century. In the 18th century, the projecting half was removed and the remaining part bricked up and refaced. It was reconstructed during the 20th century restoration.
  • The late Gothic baptismal font from 1526 located in the church has a hexagonal dome on a hexagonal leg and is decorated with reliefs of nuns and hearts. The foot is accompanied by a crest shield.
  • In the chancel there is a two-part niche with decoration in the shape of nuns and a quatrefoil.
  • On the north side of the sanctuary, a stone pastophorium from the beginning of the 16th century is preserved, decorated with a relief of a vine with a Renaissance trellis.
  • In the sacristy we find a niche in the shape of a nun, as well as the original lavabo washbasin with a drain in the exterior in the north wall of the sacristy. Only a few such washbasins have survived in our country (e.g. in Mníchová Lehota or nearby Zolná).
  • The oldest wall paintings from the second half of the 14th century (around 1380) are the scenes of St. George in a duel with a dragon, the Nativity of St. John the Baptist and a now unidentifiable painting on the north wall of the nave. Stylistically, it refers to the workshop that decorated the nearby church in Čerín. During the research, other paintings in the presbytery, now covered with frescoes from 1415, were identified. These were the scene of the Adoration of the Three Kings and a painting of St Catherine with another figure. An older layer of paintings was also found on the east wall of the nave, but it was not possible to identify them more closely.
  • At the same time, the predominant fresco decoration dates back to 1415. The completion of the decoration is even dated by an inscription to the exact date – 1 June 1415. The entire decoration of the presbytery, the complete painting of the east wall of the nave and the painting on the north wall of the nave date from this stage.
  • On the vault of the presbytery there is Christ in a mandorla with angels and symbols of the evangelists. On the walls of the sanctuary are depictions of the apostles and saints, complemented by images of the Annunciation and the Church Fathers behind writing desks with other figures. In the lower row are scenes of the Paschal cycle.
  • On the inner spandrel of the triumphal arch are wise and unwise virgins, as well as other male half-figures.
  • On the eastern wall of the nave we find several paintings with complex symbolism reflecting the educational level of the commissioners. They are complemented by inscriptional bands. At the top are the scene of the Lamentation of Christ, the scene Noli me tangere, the Veraikon, the Dispute for the Soul of the Dead, and the Intercessio. In the middle part it is a votive image with two women, the Virgin Mary with Jesus and figures of the deceased above the open muzzle of Leviathan. The second image is the Living Cross. The lower part is an image of the Virgin Mary and St. Dorothy on one side and the Volto Santo on the opposite side.
  • On the north wall, a large painting of the Adoration of the Three Kings was created at this stage.
  • An unusual decoration was created in the sacristy, where murals on the sides of the east window created an illusionary winged altar above the altar mense.
  • In 1478, a large cycle of the Ladislav Legend was painted on the north wall of the nave.
  • The north chapel also received a mural decoration shortly after its completion. Here we can find the Tree of Life (Arbor vitae), a scene from the life of St. Ursula and a figure of a bishop.
  • In the exterior there were paintings of St. Christopher, the Crucifixion and other scenes. They were preserved in a bad condition and therefore they were painted over.
  • In the church there was a winged altar from the end of the 14th century, of which only the two parts of the left wing have been preserved.
  • The late Gothic altar of the Virgin Mary dates from 1512.
  • In the nave there are late Gothic wooden pews – stalls.
  • On the south wall of the presbytery there is a painted sundial from 1586.
  • The church with the bell tower stands in the grounds, which are partly surrounded by a preserved fortress wall from the 16th century.
  • The abolished belfry was rebuilt next to the church according to the original design, but only as an all-wood building.
  • The 1:150 scale paper model of the church and bell tower was drawn by Ondřej Hejl (www.papierovy-modelar.sk/architektura/kostoly3).
  • The medieval church can be found in the neighbouring village of Dúbravica.

Current status

The church belongs to the local parish of the Roman Catholic Church, which is administered by the Capuchins based in the nearby monastery. The building is in good condition. We visited it in March 2016 and February 2017.

Sources