Basil the Great Church

Krajné Cierno, Slovakia
1750
Followers of the Eastern Christian rite erected a series of wooden churches in the Carpathian region of northeast Slovakia, even though their religious practices were deemed illegal at times. This precisely constructed church at the edge of the village maintains a small congregation of 50 members, the majority of them elderly. A log-cabin construction serves as the base of the church, and three conical towers cap the multitiered, shingled roof. On both the interior and exterior, the church reflects western European and Byzantine influences. With a dwindling congregation, few funds available for maintenance, and a paucity of carpenters familiar with traditional building techniques and materials, Basil the Great Church is falling prey to the forces of nature. Moss, mold, lichen, and insects are destroying the roof, timbers, and wooden icons. Effective financial help must be found beyond the internal sources already tapped, or this important monument will not survive. Other wooden churches nearby, also of considerable significance, are equally at risk. Saving Basil the Great would provide an important model for conserving the wooden ecclesiastical heritage of the region.