Churches & monasteries

Church of St. Stanislaus in Frydman

In Frydman in the Spiš region, by the road along the Białka river, stands the oldest monument of sacral architecture in the whole Podtatrze area: the church of St. Stanislaus. Its Early Gothic core was most probably built at the turn of the 13th and 14th centuries, already then of fieldstone.

Gothic with a Romanesque trace

The masonry, single-nave church with buttresses has a Gothic presbytery and a three-bay nave. Among the oldest details are a Romanesque window in the eastern wall of the sacristy, an Early Gothic portal and an Early Gothic stone head in the corner of the nave; Gothic tracery survives in the windows. The barrel vault of the nave dates from 1708, and in 1764 an octagonal chapel of Our Lady with a central plan was added from the north, its Baroque decoration considered especially lavish. The tower is crowned with an attic from the end of the 18th century — beneath it hide traces of the former wooden sentry gallery, burned down in the 18th century.

The king from Vienna and the fortified manor

According to local legend, Jan III Sobieski heard Mass here while returning from Vienna across Zamagurze — his name is borne today by the street next to the church. From the 17th century Frydman held the status of a small town, and until 1918 it lay within the Kingdom of Hungary; nearby stands also a Renaissance fortified manor from 1585–1590.

Practicalities

The church is surrounded by a wall with two gates and a belfry. The Białka river, flowing into the Czorsztyn Reservoir, runs close by — with a harbour and a starting point for the Pieniny Spiskie range.