St. Gotthard Bridge
Foreign national part value
Those who stop at the border of the village of Lelesz will come across unique interesting things. You may not even notice that just a few meters from the main road, one of the oldest Gothic stone bridges in Slovakia, the St. Gotthard Stone Bridge, spans it. It was built over the part of the old Tisza River where it slowly flowed westward in the 19th century. Hydrologists tried to make the river disappear in the 19th century, but water was still present in the 1980s. Currently, the bridge crosses a dried-up riverbed.
This bridge, which has survived many centuries of flooding, may have been built sometime in the 14th century, and its construction is certainly connected to another very important monument complex in Lelesz, the monastery. In addition to their land and forest estates and local income, the monasteries supported themselves from their customs and goods-stopping rights in the water-cut countryside, and from collecting bridge tolls. The St. Gotthard Bridge near the Leles Monastery may have been such a bridge. The structure is 30 meters long, about 5 meters wide, or two cart tracks wide, and is an architectural monument with four arches and a slightly widened ramp at both ends. Its building material is the gray andesite of volcanic origin from the hill towering above the nearby Királyhelmec, which was split into flat pieces by the former bridge builders and stacked on top of each other dry, without the use of any special binding material. The bridge was restored as a monument in 1994.
The bridge's namesake
The Gothic stone bridge near Lelesz bears the name of Saint Gotthard, and according to sources, the veneration of the saint, known throughout Lower Europe, was brought with them by Premontre brothers who had settled here from Bohemia at the beginning of the 19th century, to be precise in 1802, and they named the bridge after the famous saint. The Czech brothers moved into the place of the order previously abolished by Joseph II and popularized a new tradition for the locals, spreading the cult of Saint John of Nepomuk in addition to Saint Gotthard. According to sources, the statues of the two saints adorned the bridge until 1848, but where they disappeared to and what happened to them is unknown.
Saint Gotthard was born in Reichersdorf, Lower Bavaria, studied at the Benedictine abbey in Niederalteich, and according to sources, was elected its abbot at the age of barely 16. In 1022, the Holy Roman Emperor Henry II appointed him bishop of the Diocese of Hildelsheim, where he worked to reform the church and religious life. Gotthard is also revered as a great church builder, with thirty new churches built in his diocese during his tenure. Chronicles say that he lived a profound monastic life, but his wise serenity always shone brightly around him. Previously, Saint Gotthard was considered the greatest builder and teacher in Bavaria, who died in his episcopal seat in 1038, at a very advanced age compared to the conditions of the time, 77-78 years. Pope Innocent II canonized him, a basilica was built in his honor at his residence, and his final resting place is in the crypt of the Hildelsheim Cathedral. His veneration was spread throughout Europe by the Benedictine and Cistercian orders, which is how his name was also found in Lelesz, where a bridge was named after him.
This bridge, which has survived many centuries of flooding, may have been built sometime in the 14th century, and its construction is certainly connected to another very important monument complex in Lelesz, the monastery. In addition to their land and forest estates and local income, the monasteries supported themselves from their customs and goods-stopping rights in the water-cut countryside, and from collecting bridge tolls. The St. Gotthard Bridge near the Leles Monastery may have been such a bridge. The structure is 30 meters long, about 5 meters wide, or two cart tracks wide, and is an architectural monument with four arches and a slightly widened ramp at both ends. Its building material is the gray andesite of volcanic origin from the hill towering above the nearby Királyhelmec, which was split into flat pieces by the former bridge builders and stacked on top of each other dry, without the use of any special binding material. The bridge was restored as a monument in 1994.
The bridge's namesake
The Gothic stone bridge near Lelesz bears the name of Saint Gotthard, and according to sources, the veneration of the saint, known throughout Lower Europe, was brought with them by Premontre brothers who had settled here from Bohemia at the beginning of the 19th century, to be precise in 1802, and they named the bridge after the famous saint. The Czech brothers moved into the place of the order previously abolished by Joseph II and popularized a new tradition for the locals, spreading the cult of Saint John of Nepomuk in addition to Saint Gotthard. According to sources, the statues of the two saints adorned the bridge until 1848, but where they disappeared to and what happened to them is unknown.
Saint Gotthard was born in Reichersdorf, Lower Bavaria, studied at the Benedictine abbey in Niederalteich, and according to sources, was elected its abbot at the age of barely 16. In 1022, the Holy Roman Emperor Henry II appointed him bishop of the Diocese of Hildelsheim, where he worked to reform the church and religious life. Gotthard is also revered as a great church builder, with thirty new churches built in his diocese during his tenure. Chronicles say that he lived a profound monastic life, but his wise serenity always shone brightly around him. Previously, Saint Gotthard was considered the greatest builder and teacher in Bavaria, who died in his episcopal seat in 1038, at a very advanced age compared to the conditions of the time, 77-78 years. Pope Innocent II canonized him, a basilica was built in his honor at his residence, and his final resting place is in the crypt of the Hildelsheim Cathedral. His veneration was spread throughout Europe by the Benedictine and Cistercian orders, which is how his name was also found in Lelesz, where a bridge was named after him.