Sundial – Calvinist Church on Hviezdoslavova street
As Sándor Böszörményi – a Calvinist priest from Humenné – described in his work from 1938 “Reformed churches in the Toplianska kotlina basin”, Vranov was a town with strong reformation roots during the 16th and early 17th century. Recatholization changed that. At the end of the 19th century, a desire for their own church culminated among the protestants in Vranov. Calvinists and Evangelicals from Humenné served as an example since they had already dealt with this problem and built a church. That was the intention of Vranov believers as well. The courage and organization skills were missing though, so there was no guarantee it would actually happen. Fortunately, in 1892 a fresh graduate of the Mining and Forestry Academy in Banská Štiavnica, Gábor Bodor (*1967, Gelence – †1936, Vranov) from Transylvania, moved to Vranov. In addition to his forestry work, he was also interested in public affairs. He was fascinated by the idea of building a church. He decided to help. He organized collections and cultural and religious events. And he was not alone, many of his co-workers devoted to his idea had joined.
20,000 crowns had been raised by 1910, which was enough to build the protestant church. But the believers could not agree on the symbols in the interior and on the church tower. World War I broke out. The money collected had to be handed over to the Hungarian government for military purposes. After the disintegration of Austria-Hungary and the establishment of the Czechoslovak Republic, the Lutherans and the Reformed each decided to build their own churches. Slovak-speaking Lutherans built their church on Rázusova Street. Gábor Bodor built a Calvinist church for Hungarian-speaking believers on his own land on Hviezdoslavova Street. Together with his wife Etelka, (born Keler), a descendant of Dutch and German ancestors, and children, took overall responsibility for the construction of the church, including materials and transport. The believers also supported the construction of the church to a large extent with their donations.
The church was designed and built by Pavol Nagy, a builder from Vranov. The small church with 40 seats was consecrated in 1931 by the Reformed Bishop Péter Mihály. Services of the Reformed Church were held in the minority Hungarian language. This was the reason why Hungarians of other religions were also visiting the church.
Sundial is an interesting feature of the church. It was common in the homelands of both Gábor and Etelka, which might be the reason why it’s on this church, too. The church is registered as a national cultural monument.
Although the church and its parcels were confiscated after World War II, during the socialist era, services in Hungarian continued until the death of Juraj Gazdovič († 1985), the pastor of Michalovce. Since then, all services have been held in Slovak.
After the fall of communism, descendants of Gábor Bodor and Etelka asked for the return of the church and its properties. The church under the administration of the town was returned in 1994. The surrounding parcels, also belonging to the church, were administrated by Vranov nad Topľou Hospital. These were returned in 2013, after court quarrels.
In 2020, the roof and tower of the church were repaired thanks to the Repair Fund of the Ministry of Culture of the Slovak Republic. It was an important step to save him. Unfortunately, the entrance to the church is 70 centimeters below the level of adjacent roads today due to near building modifications. This causes insufficient drainage of surface water, which has an adverse effect on the building. Every second Sunday there is a service in the Slovak language in the church.
