St Elizabeth’s Cathedral, Kosice

St Elizabeth’s Cathedral (Dóm Sv Alžbety), Košice, eastern Slovakia. Built from the late 14th to early 16th century, with further work and restoration during the 18th and 19th century, it is the largest cathedral in Slovakia and one of the easternmost Gothic cathedrals in Europe. It is a beautiful building, with extensive sculpture on the exterior, and a Gothic double-staircase inside (one of only five to have survived in the world) as well as an enormous winged altarpiece (you’ll need to visit around Christmas to see the paintings on the other side of the panels, when the altarpiece is ‘closed’). The cathedral is also one of the reasons why Hlavná, the city’s lovely main street, is pedestrianized and blissfully car-free – the constant rumble of trams (which formerly passed very close to the cathedral) was beginning to take its toll on the building, leading to the whole street being closed to trams and traffic. Košice is European Capital of Culture in 2013.



For more information on Košice visit www.kosice2013.sk.
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Photos © Rudolf Abraham. No unauthorized use.