Church of the Holy Cross (Kostol svätého Kríža)

Last crawled date: 2 years, 10 months ago

The Baroque church was built on the Calvary of Prešov in 1753. The construction was led by František Perger, who had built a Calvary in Banská Štiavnica and after its official completion he came to Prešov in 1751. Murals in the interior are the work of prešov painter Ondrej Trtina, who also decorated an altar with a motif of Golgotha (in 1765), inspired by Calvary in Banská Štiavnica. Ondrej Trtina worked at several locations in Eastern Slovakia, mostly at Spiš, but he also repeatedly returned to Prešov In the church of The Holy Cross using the rich colors and light, penetrating small and oval windows, he created the illusion of a paramount baroque interior, optically much greater then it really was. In the church above the altar there are three crosses and a statue of the Virgin Mary, st. John the Apostle and Mary Magdalene. In 1766 two side chapels were built on either side of the church and near the access of the object is situated a building with a balcony with a sculpture of 'Ecce Homo'. The organ was installed in 1768 and the following year the church with whole complex of Calvary was solemnly consecrated . In the church there are three bells from 1752, 1774 and 1824. The last one was casted in the Prešov manufactory in 1544 from the cannon that was found in the city moat.