Gemer and Abov churches

Gemer and Abov churches with the medieval mural paintings – sites visited in April, 2023.

Official site description points 10 churches with well-preserved mural paintings from the 14th and 15th century while specific sites locations shows only 8 of them (similar situation to Troodos churches in Cyprus or Asante buildings in Ghana). All of them are quite characteristic for Eastern Europe architecture (gothic style with later alternations) and similar history (part are still Roman Catholic, the rest are reformed or evangelic – just as the case of Wooden Churches in Slovakia).

Gemer and Abov are the names of Slovak historic regions, both mostly connected with Kingdom of Hungary. In fact lots of people in the area still speak Hungarian. I travelled there with own car from Kosice (another tentative site). Churches can easily be combined with visiting caves of Aggtelek and Slovak Karst (Gombasecka, Ochtinska Aragonitova) and Karst Valleys of Slovakia. Personally I visited only 4 of them at Plesivec, Stitnik, Ochtina and Rakos.

Reformed Church in Plešivec – placed in the center of the village (official google coordinates are around 100 meters from our map). Two-nave church looks as currently not used but partly restored. The whole area is fenced, during my visit the gate was closed. It is also a part of so called Goticka Cesta (Rout of Gothic Monuments) in Slovakia an association founded in 2007 for protection and restoration of cultural monuments.

More about the church history in English- https://gotickacesta.sk/en/plesivec-en/

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