Cathedral of the Assumption – Rožňava (Rozsnyó)
The Gothic church of this mining town in the Gemer region has been the cathedral of the Diocese of Rožňava since 1776. Its greatest treasure, the Rožňava Metercia painted in 1513, is one of the earliest pictorial depictions of mining in Central Europe.
In 1291 King Andrew III granted Rožňava (Rozsnyó) to the Archbishop of Esztergom; the town's wealth came from silver mining. Its parish church, dedicated to the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, was built in the Gothic style in the 14th century. Badly damaged during the Hussite wars, it was restored between 1514 and 1516 with the support of Tamás Bakócz, Archbishop of Esztergom, whose name lives on in the Holy Cross Chapel. From the mid-16th century it was used by the Lutherans, returning to the Catholics in 1670.
The Diocese of Rožňava was founded by Pope Pius VI on 13 March 1776 at the initiative of Maria Theresa, and the church became its cathedral. The interior was then remodelled, and most of the furnishings date from this period; from the Gothic era only the stone tabernacle and the west gallery survive. The church originally had no tower, so a separate Neoclassical bell tower was built beside it when the diocese was founded.
The Rožňava Metercia is a late Gothic panel painting showing St Anne with the Virgin Mary and the Child Jesus; in the background it depicts the stages of local mining work, from surveying the mine to carrying away the ore. One of the side chapels holds the relics of St Netus, a gift from Pope Gregory XVI to the diocese. The Carrara marble statue of the Sacred Heart on the new altar of 1937 was carved from a fragment of the Maria Theresa monument in Bratislava.
In September 2003 Pope John Paul II celebrated Mass in Rožňava before several hundred thousand faithful, opening his homily with a greeting in Hungarian to the local Hungarian community. The patron saint of the diocese is St John of Nepomuk. The nearby episcopal palace was originally built as the Jesuit residence and received its present Zopf-style form in 1777.
Visiting: the cathedral stands in the historic centre of Rožňava (Betliarska 92/3). The town is a good base for exploring the sights of the area, such as nearby Krásna Hôrka Castle.
Sources: Wikipedia · Wikipedia – Diocese of Rožňava · Repository of Hungarian Values in Slovakia · Wikipedia (Slovak)
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Town:
Rožňava (Rozsnyó)
