The Saint Michael Church () is a

Gothic style Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship * Chris ...

Košice Košice ( , ; german: Kaschau ; hu, Kassa ; pl, Коszyce) is the largest city in eastern Slovakia. It is situated on the river Hornád at the eastern reaches of the Slovak Ore Mountains, near the border with Hungary. With a population of app ...

Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the s ...

.St Michael Chapel
from ''Visit Kosice'' retrieved 19 June 2013 Originally a chapel (), the building became officially a church after its reconstruction in 2006.

History

The Saint Michael Chapel was probably erected in the first half of the 14th century. It was built as a cemetery chapel inside the

town wall A defensive wall is a fortification usually used to protect a city, town or other settlement from potential aggressors. The walls can range from simple palisades or earthworks to extensive military fortifications with towers, bastions and gates ...

s in the place of the present-day park at Hlavná ulica (English: '' Main Street''). The lower part of the chapel was initially an

ossarium An ossuary is a chest, box, building, well, or site made to serve as the final resting place of human skeletal remains. They are frequently used where burial space is scarce. A body is first buried in a temporary grave, then after some years the ...

, the upper one served for offices for the deceased. The chapel served as a Slovak

whereas the Cathedral of Saint Elisabeth was a German and Hungarian church.Kosice
from ''Infoglobe'' retrieved 19 June 2013 During the rebuilding in the years 1902–1904, they pulled down the northern

aisle An aisle is, in general, a space for walking with rows of non-walking spaces on both sides. Aisles with seating on both sides can be seen in airplanes, certain types of buildings, such as churches, cathedrals, synagogues, meeting halls, parl ...

(it was erected in 1508) and bricked 17 old

gravestones A headstone, tombstone, or gravestone is a stele or marker, usually stone, that is placed over a grave. It is traditional for burials in the Christian, Jewish, and Muslim religions, among others. In most cases, it has the deceased's name, d ...

(from the 14th century until the 17th century) into the exterior walls of the chapel to save them from destruction.Slovakia Travel
retrieved 19 June 2013 Bad condition of the building was the reason of the complex reconstruction in the years 1998–2006. The reconstructed chapel was

consecrated Consecration is the solemn dedication to a special purpose or service. The word ''consecration'' literally means "association with the sacred". Persons, places, or things can be consecrated, and the term is used in various ways by different grou ...

on 22 January 2006 by Košice's

archbishop In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdi ...

Alojz Tkáč Monsignor Alojz Tkáč (born March 2, 1934, in Ohradzany, Slovakia) is Slovak bishop, he was the first archbishop of the Košice Episcopal see (1995 to 2010), nowadays archbishop emeritus. He is a "golden" blood Blood is a body fluid in the ...

. After the construction was finished, the chapel has officially become a church.

Interior

The patron of the dead,

Saint Michael Michael (; he, מִיכָאֵל, lit=Who is like El od, translit=Mīḵāʾēl; el, Μιχαήλ, translit=Mikhaḗl; la, Michahel; ar, ميخائيل ، مِيكَالَ ، ميكائيل, translit=Mīkāʾīl, Mīkāl, Mīkhāʾīl), also ...

the

Archangel Archangels () are the second lowest rank of angel in the hierarchy of angels. The word ''archangel'' itself is usually associated with the Abrahamic religions, but beings that are very similar to archangels are found in a number of other relig ...

, trampling the

Devil A devil is the personification of evil as it is conceived in various cultures and religious traditions. It is seen as the objectification of a hostile and destructive force. Jeffrey Burton Russell states that the different conceptions of t ...

, is shown on the facade. The archangels

Raphael Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino, better known as Raphael (; or ; March 28 or April 6, 1483April 6, 1520), was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. List of works by Raphael, His work is admired for its clarity of form, ease of ...

and

Gabriel In Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity and Islam), Gabriel (); Greek: grc, Γαβριήλ, translit=Gabriḗl, label=none; Latin: ''Gabriel''; Coptic: cop, Ⲅⲁⲃⲣⲓⲏⲗ, translit=Gabriêl, label=none; Amharic: am, ገብር� ...

are on his sides. In the interior, there is a nice stone

tabernacle According to the Hebrew Bible, the tabernacle ( he, מִשְׁכַּן, mīškān, residence, dwelling place), also known as the Tent of the Congregation ( he, link=no, אֹהֶל מוֹעֵד, ’ōhel mō‘ēḏ, also Tent of Meeting, etc.), ...

, the ornamental sculpture Ecce Homo and rests of wall paintings from the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

. The first municipal coat of arms in Europe (dated back to 1369) is situated above the door leading to the

vestry A vestry was a committee for the local secular and ecclesiastical government for a parish in England, Wales and some English colonies which originally met in the vestry or sacristy of the parish church, and consequently became known colloquiall ...

Gallery

Kaplnka sv. Michala.jpg, Kaplnka sv. Michala 1.jpg, Kaplnka sv. Michala 2.jpg, Kaplnka sv. Michala v Košiciach.jpg,

References

{{Coord, 48.7199, N, 21.2584, E, source:kolossus-dewiki, display=title Churches in Košice Roman Catholic chapels in Slovakia 14th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Slovakia Gothic architecture in Slovakia

History

Interior

Gallery

See also

References