Church of St. Paraskeva is a wooden sacral building, which originally stood in Nová Polianka, currently located in the open-air museum in Svidník. It is dedicated to St. Paraskeva and was built in 1766. It was damaged in November 1944 during the military operations of the Second World War in the area of the Carpatho-Dukla operation. Immediately after the end of the war it was reconstructed by the inhabitants of the village. In 1961 it was dismantled. It was installed in the open-air museum in Svidník in 1986. Its transfer to the open-air museum was made possible by the construction of the brick church of Sts. Peter and Paul (in 1937).
The plan of the church consists of three longitudinally arranged buildings, in the following order: presbytery, nave and nave. This arrangement highlights the principle of the Holy Trinity. The east-west orientation is based on the act of worship. The iconostasis is the work of 18th-century masters and comes from another religious building.
The mass of the building is log of conifers and is mounted on a simple stone foundation. The binding of the log beams and timbers was secured by carpenter's locks using tenons, mortises and mortises. Oak pegs were generally used to join the carpenter's ties, which were hammered into the beam's drilled holes. Metal nails were not used throughout the building. The windows are set on the south side. The two-tiered roof is covered with shingles and decoratively embellished with a lace trim at the beginning. The west tower is the tallest and its form is distinct from the nave and presbytery.
The church has been used for religious services since 1993.
Source: www.drevenchramy.sk
Photo: Henryk Bielamowicz
