Church of St Martin, Lipany: A Medieval Parish Church in Slovakia
Site at a Glance
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- Country
- Slovakia
- Primary era
- Medieval
- External website
- Open
- Eras represented
- Medieval, Early Modern, Modern
- Civilizations
- Austria-Hungary, Habsburg, Hungarian
- Site type
- Religious
- Remains
- Church
On this page15 sections
History
The Church of St Martin in Lipany, Slovakia, is a Roman Catholic parish church dedicated to Martin of Tours, a fourth-century bishop associated with charity toward the poor. The church dates from the fourteenth century, when Lipany became a manorial town, and its foundation is traditionally attributed to Rikolf II of Kamenica, who died in 1360. Its medieval origins placed it within the religious and administrative development of a settlement on an important regional trade route.
Medieval parish and manorial centre
Lipany’s established ecclesiastical role was already taking shape by the early fourteenth century. The first written mention of the town, from 1312, names its priest, Henry of Lipany. Lipany is also presumed to have been a parish in a vice-archdeaconry by 1302 or earlier. These references place the church within an organized parish structure before or during the period traditionally associated with its foundation.
The administrative centre of the surrounding estate moved from Kamenica Castle to Lipany because the town occupied an important position on a major trade route. One branch followed the Torysa valley toward Stará Ľubovňa, while another ran along the Lipany stream toward the pass and the Poprad valley near Plaveč. The estate later passed through association with the Tarczay, Desewffy, and Szirmay families, whose histories became closely connected with the church.
Tarczay alterations and Renaissance work
The Tarczay family played a major role in the church’s transformation. Mikuláš Tarczay was chiefly responsible for alterations before his death fighting the Turks at the Battle of Mohács in 1526. In the church itself, his son Tomáš Tarczay commissioned changes to the nave between 1513 and 1519. Tomáš had already referred to the planned construction of a burial chapel in his will of 1490, and the southern Chapel of St Thomas was added in 1493 for the Tarczay family.
Important stonework followed in 1513, when Vincent of Dubrovnik, a Dalmatian stonemason and builder, created two portals, a wall recess for liturgical objects, and supports for the vaults under the direction of Ján of Prešov. These works represent a regional form of Florentine Renaissance that differed from the so-called Corvinian Renaissance. After the Tarczay family died out, Ferdinand I of the Habsburgs granted the Lipany estates, the church, and the entire parish to Ján Desewffy de Czernek in 1556.
Reformation and return to Catholic administration
During the spread of the Reformation, Lipany’s originally Roman Catholic population became Protestant around 1589. The church changed religious administration three times, serving Protestant worship from 1598 to 1672, from 1680 to 1691, and from 1693 to 1748. Repairs were carried out during these conflicts, including a restoration in 1691.
Pressure from the Szirmay family and Štefan Desewffy brought the church back under Catholic control during the Counter-Reformation, the Catholic Church’s response to the spread of Protestant churches. Catholic administration resumed on 15 March 1748 and continued thereafter. In the same year, Klára Szirmay, née Barkoczy, commissioned the northern Chapel of the Holy Cross in connection with the parish’s return to the Catholic Church. The chapel later became the Desewffy family burial chapel.
Later rebuilding and conservation
Two entrance vestibules and a sacristy on the north side were added during the eighteenth century. The church burned in 1888 and was restored and refacaded in 1888 and 1889. The work followed the traditional ecclesiastical architecture of eastern Slovakia from approximately 1770 to 1830, with a predominance of Classical elements.
The tower was repaired in 1937, when the town council selected Maximilián Hudy, a native of Lipany, for the work. Its sheet-metal roof was galvanized and a lightning conductor was installed. During the 1970s, the roof covering was changed from sheet metal to copper. The interior was also altered in accordance with the decrees of the Second Vatican Council, through the work of Pavel Dráb, dean of the Torysa Deanery, and donations from parishioners.
An extensive reconstruction and modernization in 2005 to 2007 addressed dampness, the lack of heating, and inadequate ventilation. A new bell and new lighting were installed in the tower in 2009. The church is registered as a National Cultural Monument of the Slovak Republic under number 315/1, with registration dated 17 April 1963.
Remains
The church originally stood in the middle of Lipany’s old market square. Its present complex is a rectangular, single-nave building traditionally oriented from east to west, with the sanctuary at the eastern end. It includes a square sanctuary ending in a straight wall, chapels on the south and north sides, two entrance portals, a tower, and a sacristy attached to the sanctuary. The earliest probable plan, dated approximately 1300 to 1320, comprised a nave, sanctuary, sacristy, and tower. The chapels and Renaissance portals were added later.
Tower and exterior setting
The tower stands on the northwestern side, outside the main axis of the church. It is the oldest part of the complex. Originally separate from the church, it was later incorporated into the building, although its form does not create an integrated architectural whole with the nave. The tower is approximately 30 metres high to the eaves, has walls 175 centimetres thick, and contains five levels. Its Gothic entrance and slit windows originally served as firing openings. Three slit windows rise vertically on the north side beneath an arched window, while clock faces appear on all sides. The tower functioned as a watchtower and observation post between Kamenica Castle and the surrounding fortifications.
The church now stands within a small park and lime-tree avenues surrounded by later panel housing. Statues of St Jude and St Florian are placed in the courtyard. In 2012, a statue of St Martin made of artificial stone was added for the 700th anniversary of Lipany’s first written mention. It was created by Peter Beňo, an academic sculptor born in Lipany.
Sanctuary and nave
The sanctuary is covered by a single bay of late Gothic cross-rib vaulting, a ceiling supported and visually divided by intersecting ribs. The simple ribs, undercut spur-like supports, and supports with foliage ornament date from approximately 1480. A relief of the Lamb appears on the central boss, the ornamental element at the meeting point of the ribs. Late Gothic tracery windows survive on the eastern side, while the western windows retain the shapes of their original pointed openings. A simple pointed Gothic doorway in the north wall leads to the sacristy.
Renaissance portals on the south and west sides provide access to the sanctuary. The southern portal is incomplete but retains an inscription on its lintel suggesting that Vincent of Dubrovnik made it. The western portal has a richly moulded semicircular archivolt, a band of moulding that follows an arch, decorated with two relief putti and a coat of arms. Near its base, the profile turns at right angles.
Several tabernacles are preserved in the sanctuary. A wooden tabernacle stands beneath the central altar cabinet, while an older recess in the rear wall is covered by an iron grille. A third tabernacle, carved by Vincent of Dubrovnik on the north wall, remains in use. The left wall contains the monument to Melichar Fekešházi, captain of Kamenica Castle, dated 1621.
The original nave ceiling was flat, formed with wooden beams and wooden infill. It was later replaced by two bays of cross vaulting beneath the gallery and two bays of Renaissance cross vaulting in the nave. The Gothic stone ribs are decorative and rest on block-shaped Renaissance supports decorated with winged angel heads. The ribs have arches and mouldings, and chandeliers hang from their bosses.
Mikuláš Tarczay commissioned the nave alteration between 1513 and 1519. The organ gallery belongs to the same period and has a facade decorated with the Tarczay coat of arms, while its Gothic under-vaulting survives. A red-marble epitaph for the official Melichar Duchoň was installed in the nave in 1636. The nave opens through a simple arcade into the northern Baroque chapel and through a pointed arcade into the southern Gothic chapel. Carved Stations of the Cross from the beginning of the twentieth century, made in the Tyrolean school, are arranged in the nave and in the Chapel of St Thomas.
The western gallery is covered by a single bay of cross vaulting. Its ribs meet at a circular boss with a floral motif, and the gallery has a circular western window and a narrow arched southern window. The space below is covered by three bays of cross vaulting resting on block-shaped supports with delicately profiled ribs and floral bosses. Three arcades divide this space from the nave. They rest on low stone columns with hexagonal plans, and a wooden staircase with a solid balustrade leads to the gallery from the south.
Burial chapels
Chapel of St Thomas
The southern Chapel of St Thomas was added in 1493 as a late Gothic burial chapel for the Tarczay family. Its cross-rib vault rests on supports carved with the heads of men and women. The ribs have wedge-shaped grooves, and three pointed-arched windows light the chapel. Tomáš Tarczay’s tomb monument, made of Esztergom marble, is preserved inside.
The chapel also contains a Gothic sandstone font dating from around 1500, with a hammered-copper cover made in the eighteenth century. A red-marble monument to Štefan Desewffy, dated 1649, was commissioned by his wife, Katarína Darholzová of Fintice, and uses red marble from Zvolen. A later monument to their granddaughter Katarína is made of red sandstone. The chapel also preserves a red-marble Desewffy coat of arms and another Desewffy coat of arms.
Chapel of the Holy Cross
The northern Chapel of the Holy Cross is Baroque-Rococo in style. Its rectangular oval ceiling is covered by a single bay of Prussian vaulting. Stucco ornament takes the form of a shell, cornucopias, grilles, and rocaille. Two narrow arched windows illuminate the chapel. Epitaphs of the Desewffy and related families from the Gothic and Renaissance periods remain inside.
The chapel’s Neo-Gothic altar includes a Pietà, a sculpture of the Virgin Mary mourning over the dead Christ. The woodcarving dates from the second half of the fourteenth century and is among the oldest surviving sculptures of its type in Slovakia. It belongs to the tradition of mystical sorrowful Pietàs of the German Middle Ages and may be connected with devotion to the Seven Sorrows of the Virgin Mary.
Near the chapel entrance is a black-marble monument commissioned by Štefan Desewffy for his parents, Štefan Desewffy and Klára Semseyová. Its upper section bears the Desewffy and Semsey coats of arms. Gilded stucco on the ceiling depicts the four Evangelists, Mark, Matthew, Luke, and John.
During repairs from 1851 to 1855, a local resident privately acquired a representation of the Holy Sepulchre, which became part of the altar pedestal in the northern chapel. During the same period, Jozef Gurkay arranged for the chapel’s statues and altar to be moved. Gravestones that had lain on the floor were built into the walls, and the graves were exposed.
Altars and late Gothic sculpture
High altar
The late Gothic high altar in the sanctuary was produced by the workshop of Master Paul of Levoča between 1512 and 1520. Master Paul was a leading late Gothic sculptor and woodcarver active in the Kingdom of Hungary. The altar is painted in several colors and has a two-metre-high central cabinet. From left to right, its figures are St Martin of Tours with a beggar at his feet, the Madonna and Child, and St Nicholas. The sides have double painted wings by Hans Koeller, also known as Kohler, of Bardejov.
When opened, the wings show scenes from the life of the Virgin Mary, including the Annunciation, Nativity, Visitation, and Death of the Virgin Mary. The Nativity panel bears the date 1526. When closed, the wings show scenes from the Passion of Christ, including Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane, Christ under the Cross, the Arrest of Christ, the Crucifixion, Christ before Pilate, the Deposition from the Cross, Christ taking leave of the Virgin Mary, and Ecce Homo.
The panels showing the Death of the Virgin Mary and Ecce Homo bear the signature H.E.R., attributed to Hans Koeller in older specialist literature. Later scholarship has also identified parallels with panel paintings in the Co-Cathedral of St Nicholas in Prešov.
Altar of St Anne
The southern chapel contains a side altar of St Anne that is older than the high altar. Its central cabinet contains a sculpture of St Anne Selbdritt, a representation of St Anne with the Virgin Mary and the Christ Child, made around 1500 to 1520. Anne holds the Virgin Mary in her left hand and Jesus Christ in her right.
The opened wings repeat the Marian cycle, with the Annunciation panel dated 1526. The closed wings show eight female saints: Lucy, Barbara, Dorothy, Ursula, Catherine, Apollonia, Agnes, and Margaret. The predella, the lower section of an altar, contains a painting of Corpus Christi. The altar base shows the Resurrected Christ flanked by the Virgin Mary and the Evangelist John.
Other carved works
The church contains several Gothic works of painting and carving in addition to its altars. A wooden sculpture of the crucified Jesus is attributed to the workshop of Master Paul. Together with other surviving crucifixes in the Spiš region, it has been interpreted as indirect evidence that Master Paul visited Nuremberg around 1505, where he may have encountered Veit Stoss’s Crucifixion in the Church of St Lawrence. Veit Stoss was a major late Gothic sculptor whose work influenced religious sculpture in Central Europe.
