Church of St. Egidius in Poprad
Building, structure
The settlement of Poprad was founded in the Árpád period on the banks of the Poprad River. In the Middle Ages, it was not one of the significant settlements of the Spiš region, but only gained strength from the end of the 18th century, later incorporating previously significant cities such as Szepesszombathely or Felka. ; The parish church of the patron saint of goldsmiths, Saint Egyed (the patron saint of goldsmiths), was built around 1280 in the early Gothic style on the market square of the settlement. The square sanctuary of the church has a straight closure. In the second half of the 14th century, the nave was converted into a two-aisle structure by adding a central pillar and covered with a Gothic cross vault. An early Gothic rose window with a relief remains in the wall of the sanctuary, a carved portal on the south side of the nave, and a stone-carved sanctuary inside. ; The most outstanding values of the church are the wall paintings made in the 13th and 14th centuries, the scientific excavation and restoration of which were carried out between 1992 and 1994 under the direction of Zoltán Székely. On the eastern side of the sanctuary, we can see frescoes depicting the martyrdom of the apostles in three rows. On the northern wall of the sanctuary, there are pictures of the Christmas celebration, the most interesting of which is the scene of the infanticide in Bethlehem. In one of the niches of the cross vault of the sanctuary, the face of Jesus on the shroud can be seen. Above the triumphal arch, the painter immortalized the monumental vision of the Last Judgment in the nave. On the northern wall of the nave, the frescoes were made in several periods, depicting the story of Jesus' suffering and the fight of Saint George with the dragon. ; To the south of the church, we find a Renaissance-style bell tower with a partisan design, built in 1658.