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The Medival Church Route

Hungary

  • Route

The Route of Medieval Churches is the name of the thematic route designed with the intention of thoroughly familiarising interested tourists with a unique religious and cultural heritage in the Carpathian Basin. This thematic route was created with the purpose of presenting the medieval ecclesiastical heritage of three geographical units, which formed a historical region in the past: Northeast Hungary, Kárpátalja (Subcarpathia) and the northern area of the region called Partium.

The route crosses Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg county on Hungarian territory, Szatmár/Satu Mare county in Romania and Transcarpathia (Zakarpatska oblast’) in Ukraine. A web of common historical roots ties together these three administrative units. The medieval churches in Kárpátalja (Subcarpathia) represent the eastern frontier of Western Christianity, this is the region where Gothic architecture meets the wooden churches characteristic to the Greek Orthodox denomination. The region itself had a tumultuous history and the past of its churches constitutes no exception with regard to this observation. Many of them had been destroyed during the Mongol Invasion of Europe, the remaining ones were seized one after another by the Calvinists as the Reformation gained ground, a large number burned down during the freedom fights of Early modern history and, in Soviet times, churches were often transformed into museums for atheists. We live now in peaceful times, in a calm period of history – hence, churches became tourists’ attractions. Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg county is one of the richest areas in Hungary in what concerns medieval churches.

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