Paludza (Svaty Kriz)
The original articulated wooden church of the Evangelic Lutheran Church was built in 1693 in the village of Paludza. During this time the number of Lutherans in the region continued to increase making it necessary to build a larger church. In March 1744, a contract was signed by a local carpenter named Jozef Lange to start construction on a larger church. The church was finished in November 1774. This is very quick considering Mr. Lange did not have a plan for the construction of the church before he started. He did not know how to read and write so his previous knowledge of carpentry was what helped him. The area of the church is 1150 square meters. The length of the church is 43 meters, including the steeple. The church has 12 doors and 72 windows. The baroque altar of the Holy Trinity is remarkable and surrounding the pictures on the beautiful wooden altar is polychrome. The altar was renovated in 1763. The base of the pulpit is a sculture of an angel. The pulpit was built by a carpenter named Lerch. On the pulpit are paintings of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. The colomns on the pulpit are characteristic of speech sculping dating from the 17th and the 18th centuries. The name of person who created the columns that is unknown. The organ was built by an organ maker named Martin Podkonicky from B. Bystrica in 1754. The chandeler was made in 1780 with glass from the city of Venezia. Around the balconies are biblical paintings. Between each biblical painting are paintings of flowers or animals. The name of the artist is unknown. The steeple was built in 1781 and is 19 metres high. The steeple had three bells dating from the end of the 18th century, but in the First World War (Great war) they were destroyed (the new bells are believe, love and hope).
The threat to the existence of thebuilding in connection with a creation of reservoir near Liptovska Mara aroused the latent interest of the Slovak public in this precious memorial and provoked a lively discussion about the possibilities of saving it. After the consideration of various alternatives an appropriate solution was found - the will to transferr it to neighbouring Svaty Kriz. It will therefore remain within the old territorial limits of Paludza, thus ensuring its safety while prerving the authenticity of the regional enviroment.
In 1974 the process of moving the church started. On 22 August 1982, close to 10 000 people attended the conseceration of the church in its new location.
Visit of the church: 01.10. - 31.05.: every day 9.00 - 15.00 / 01.06. - 30.09.: every day 9.00 - 17.00
Contact: evanjelicky a.v. farsky urad, (the evangelical parish office) Lazisko, phone: + 421 44 559 26 22.
Photo 09.05.2009:
