St. Michael the Archangel Church, Romanesque church in Dražovce, Slovakia
St. Michael the Archangel Church is an 11th-century Romanesque single-nave building on a rocky hill above Dražovce, now part of Nitra. Its rough light grey and brown rubble masonry walls carry a steep gabled roof of ridged reddish-brown tiles, and a square stone tower with a small gabled cap rises from the left end. The front facade has three arched recesses, a small square opening and a rectangular doorway; the nave ends in a semicircular apse.
The church was built in the early 11th century and stands as one of the oldest surviving examples of Romanesque architecture in the Nitra region. Its structure has endured for roughly 1,000 years, preserving its original form.
The church is no longer used regularly; Mass is celebrated here once a year, on 29 September, the feast of St. Michael the Archangel. A local legend tells of the Virgin Mary appearing to a churchwarden and later to a shepherd, pointing at the crumbling walls and roof, after which the villagers began repairs. The church appeared on the 1941 Slovak 100-koruna note and the 1993 50-koruna note.
The church stands on a rocky hill above Dražovce, reached on foot by a climb; the building is not in regular use, so it is normally seen from outside. Mass is held here once a year, on 29 September, the feast of St. Michael the Archangel.
The church appeared on the Slovak 100-koruna note of 1941 and the 50-koruna note of 1993, and it also features on a Slovak postage stamp. Excavations in 1947 and 1948 uncovered 55 graves around the building, with coins, ornaments and clothing parts dating burials to the 11th–17th centuries.
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