Reformed Church in Zsíp (Balogvölgy)

The Reformed church is identical to the parish with the title of Blessed Virgin Mary as mentioned in the 14th century tithe register. From afar, the white-walled building on the northern end of the village, on a hilltop, stands out, with a beautifully proportioned, wooden floor in front of its western facade, an arcaded-towered, shingle-covered belfry. It is also connected to the church by a passage made of planks, forming a vestibule in front of its entrance. The sanctuary of the single-nave building with an east-facing longitudinal axis is closed by three sides of an octagon, and based on the narrow, semicircular Romanesque window on the south side of its apse and the narrow, lancet-arched opening in the western gable, its construction can be dated to the late 1200s. The interior was rebuilt in 1775, and a coffered, painted plank ceiling was made above the nave – the wooden tower for the bell was also built at that time. In 1820, another renovation was carried out on the church, and as a result of the historical research of recent years, the 14th century murals decorating the walls of the sanctuary came to light. The Government of Hungary, within the framework of the Rómer Flóris Plan, with the cooperation of the Teleki László Foundation, took under its wing in 2017 one of the ancient, still standing and living churches of Gömör, the Zsípi Reformed Church. The funding was used to solve the drainage problem.