St John's Church – Csíkdelne
The Church of St John the Baptist in Csíkdelne stands in the fields about a kilometre from the village, encircled by a round stone wall. Once the shared church of three villages, it is today the mother church of the Delne–Pálfalva parish.
Its priest is already mentioned in the papal tithe register of 1332–1333. According to research, the 13th-century stone church was enlarged in the 14th century, a tower and murals were added in the 15th century, and in the first half of the 16th century it received a new vaulted sanctuary. The 15th-century exterior murals above the south entrance – including a Crucifixion – were uncovered by Géza Vámszer in 1934.
Its greatest treasure is the painted coffered ceiling with floral motifs, which Lajos Kelemen counted among the oldest and finest of its kind in Transylvania. Its date is disputed – long placed in 1613, it is now more often dated to 1673. The joinery of the winged altar dates from the 1540s, its painted panels from around 1675; St John the Baptist stands at its centre.
The church is surrounded by an enclosure wall reinforced with 12 buttresses and a Baroque gateway with a volute gable. Between 2001 and 2004 the ceiling, the altars and the south mural were restored with Hungarian state support.
Visiting: the key is kept by the bell-ringer, who lives in the small house at the churchyard gate. In summer the Sunday Mass of Delne is held in this church at 11 am. Csíkdelne belongs to the commune of Csíkpálfalva.
More about painted ceilings: Painted heavens – Coffered ceilings in the churches of Szeklerland
Photo: Szabi237 / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0 · Photo: Ildikó Márton / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Town:
Csíkdelne (Delnița)