Bodružal - wooden church of St. Nicholas

The Church of St. Nicholas (Church of St. Nicholas) is a wooden Greek Catholic church in the village Bodružal, located about 12 km northeast of the town Svidník. It was built in 1658, which ranks it among the oldest wooden sacral buildings in Slovakia and is the oldest Greek Catholic church in Slovakia. The complete reconstruction of the church was completed in 2004. In 2008, together with seven other Slovak wooden churches, it was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List. The temple is the work of local Ruthenian settlers. The church is a three-part wooden log building consisting of three squares arranged one behind the other in an axial and rising tower from east to west. Each square bears one tower – a reference to the three-dimensionality of the church. It has a richly structured shingled roof and is artistically influenced by Baroque architecture. Typical is the richly structured, as if two-storey shingled roof with baroque onion towers, finished with small shingled conical extensions with forged metal crosses. Bells are placed in the highest western tower without conical structures. The walls are lined with boards from the outside, the roof is shingled and deeply divided.

Inside there is a valuable Baroque decoration. On the front wall of the central nave is a richly decorated iconostasis, which separates the shrine from the main nave. The iconostasis is unique in that it is painted on both sides. The side walls are painted on the inside with ant motifs. A number of period books and icons are kept in the church.

The Church of St. Nicholas is a historical Christian symbol of people professing the Eastern Church of the Byzantine Rite. From 1968 until the mid-1990s, ceremonies of the Orthodox and Greek Catholic Churches were performed in the church. Today it belongs only to the Greek Catholic Church. The new Orthodox Church of Peter and Paul is located next door and tells of a turbulent history, when there was pressure for the transition of believers from the Greek Catholic to the Orthodox Church.