Evangelicals and Calvinists used mostly older Gothic, formerly Catholic churches and only exceptionally built new ones. The foundation stone was ceremoniously laid on 25 July 1642. For several years, the church was connected by a vaulted roofed passageway connecting it with the southern wing of the building of the Protestant college in 1716. The church burnt down several times. Some Renaissance pews from the end of the 17th century and stalls (late Baroque stools from the last third of the 18th century) have been preserved from the interior of the original church. The organ from 1642 is one of the most beautiful Baroque monuments of Prešov. One of the blankets, decorated with the motif of thistles, dates from the 18th century and was exhibited at the World Exhibition in Paris in 1900. The church is dominated by an altar built in the classical style in 1865. In the middle is a painting with the biblical theme of Jesus and the Samaritan woman. The original painting was painted by Charles Brocký, court painter to Queen Victoria of Great Britain. Under the left staircase there is a side crypt with the remains of four victims of the 1687 Prešov Blood Trial. In the church crypt are the remains of 17 Jesuit monks and superiors who were buried there during the 18th century. Together with the neighbouring Evangelical Collegium it forms a chronicle of the history of the Reformation and Counter-Reformation. For 89 years the Jesuits were active there, after the dissolution of their order the church and the college were put up for public auction and in the 18th century the Evangelicals managed to get it back (buy it back).
Photo: OOCR Región Šariš, Jozef Kotulič
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