PODOLÍNEC

Ever since I first went to the Spiš region of Slovakia I have strongly felt its difference, as far as the old town architecture is concerned,  in comparison with other areas of my country. Small towns, past their biggest glory, exuded the the air of times gone by. I was enchanted by the central squares of those towns, which have churches and then there are also separate bell towers. And the bell towers have cute silhouettes – I found them like from a fairy tale. They make these historic towns so picturesque. These towns never cease to amaze me and let me take you to one of them.

The first written mention of Podolínec dates back to 1235.  However, the original Slavic settlement was destroyed during Mongol invasion in 1241. It was rebuilt but another devastating invasion by the Mongols followed in 1287. Both German and Polish settlers helped in rebuilding.  It was promoted to a free royal town by Sigismund of Luxembourg in 1412.  Parts of old gothic city fortifications are preserved until today alongside with other historic monuments and 16th-17th century late renaissance style burgher houses, rebuilt in 18th-19th century in classicism style. Thanks to them Podolínec was declared an urban conservation area in 1990.

Due to the Piarist Monastery, which was important for education, the town was referred to as Scepus Oxford (Spiš Oxford) or Athens upon Poprad.

At present it has appr. 3200 inhabitants.

 

Podolínec.  Roman Catholic Church of the Assumption of Our Lady was constructed as early as in 1295. Originally it had one nave only but it was enlarged later. White and grey renaissance bell tower was constructed next to the church in 1659 and a bell cast in 1392 was placed in it.  There is even a book on renaissance bell towers of Spiš region  
Monastery church of st. Stanislaus, constructed 1647-1651 in baroque style. Piarist Monastery in Podolínec was founded in 1642 by the Scepus (Spiš) mayor Stanislaw Lubomirski (1583-1649). The twin towers are topped by onion-shaped roofs added in 1762 
High altar painting with its size 4×7 m is the largerst high altar painting in Slovakia and ranks among the largest in Central Europe, too. It depicts a scene from the life of St. Stanislaus (cca 1030-1079), the Bishop of Cracow – resurrection of a nobleman Peter (Piotr), who then testified on Stanislaus behalf. Stanislaus was canonized in 1253 
Piarist monastery built in renaissance style. Serves nowadays as Monastery of the Redemptorists.   It was turned into a prison for more than 700 order members from all of Slovakia in the 1950s. In April 1950 the faithful from the area came to defend their priests and several persons were injured in shooting