Konkatedrala Sv. Mikuláša / Co-cathedral of St. Nicholas - Prešov (East Slovakia)
N 48° 59.871 E 021° 14.392
34U E 517545 N 5427244
The Gothic co-cathedral of St. Nicholas (Konkatedrala Sv. Mikuláša), the principal landmark of town Prešov, represents the oldest and the only Gothic religious building preserved in the town and also its main Roman-Catholic church.
Waymark Code: WMJC8D
Location: Prešovský kraj, Slovakia
Date Posted: 10/28/2013
Views: 12
The Gothic co-cathedral of St. Nicholas (Konkatedrala Sv. Mikuláša), the principal architectonic and historic landmark of town Prešov, represents the oldest and the only Gothic religious building preserved in the town and also its main Roman-Catholic church.
The church has a three-nave Gothic design, so it is so-called " hall church" (= church with nave and side aisles of approximately equal height, often united under a single immense roof), which was common on the German cultural area. In the past it was considered as one of the most beautiful hall churches in former Hungarian kingdom. By its size (length is 54.7 m, width 34.5 m and the height of the interior is 16 m) it holds the 3rd position among buildings of the same type in Slovakia, after the Levoca church of St. James and Bratislava's St. Martin Cathedral.
The church building (funded by the town authorities) started in around year 1347 at the site of older Romanesque structure(which parts are incorporated in the existing church), but the whole construction of the Gothic church was finished in 1515. During these 165 years, originally single-nave structure was extended into three-nave monumental church. Despite of repeated modifications and fire in 1788 many original Gothic elements have been preserved in its architecture: domes, windows and portals. Only minor reconstructions and extensions were made in the following centuries. The southern Baroque portal from the 18th century and the northern porticus in the Empire style from 1828 are remnants of these periods. On the other hand, more significant changes were made in the interior, where not too much has remained from the original Gothic and Renaissance furnishing. Most of it was destroyed either during many fires affecting the church (1685, 1711, 1780, 1788, 1886 and in 1887), or especially during anti-Habsburg uprisings at the end of the 17th century.
St. Nicholas was Prešov parish church until 2008, when it was elevated by pope Benedict XVI to the co-cathedral church. The title "co-cathedral" refers to the fact, that St. Nicholas is the second seat of archbishops of the Košice' Archdiocese, after St. Elisabeth Cathedral in Košice.