The Church of St. Margaret of Antioch in Šámot is a brick Romanesque church with a rectangular nave, an extended semicircular apse, and a northern sacristy. It was built as a typical late Romanesque structure around 1260. Archaeological research has shown that there was a medieval settlement and cemetery (12th–16th century) next to it.
In the 19th century, the church ceased to fulfill its original function, and Holy Mass was celebrated there only once a year, on the feast day of the patron saint of the church, St. Margaret of Antioch. The last Mass was to be celebrated in 1927. The last one was to take place in 1927.
After the communists came to power, the building served as a grain warehouse for thirty years from 1950. In 1983–84, the church was repaired – the statics of the building were secured, the facades were restored, and the wooden ceiling was replaced. In 1995, the church was handed over to the Roman Catholic Church as part of restitution. Since 2012, it has belonged to the Šamorín parish. In recent years, a comprehensive renovation of the building has begun, which included, among other things, the removal of the wooden tower. A stone cross was placed on the gable of the church in 2018.
Romanesque slit windows have been preserved on the south wall of the nave, apse, and sacristy. Under the cornice of the apse and nave walls, dentils are used as a decorative element.
The vaulting of the sanctuary already hints at the arrival of the Gothic style. The choir has a separate cross-ribbed vault without a keystone. Similarly, the semicircular end of the apse is no longer vaulted with a typical conch, but has a simple vault.
According to some authors, the church originally had a tower on the west side, as evidenced by traces on the west facade.
The original Romanesque portal on the south side was bricked up and replaced by the west entrance, but it is exposed in the interior and its outlines are also visible on the exterior facade. To the right of today’s entrance, a roughly hewn stone basin from the Romanesque period is walled into the nave wall. It was originally probably a baptismal font, but from the second half of the 19th century it served as a holy water font.
In the northern wall of the apse, there is a simple pastophorium in the form of a trapezoidal niche. Medieval paintings have been preserved on the walls of the church, but they are covered and awaiting restoration. Only a few consecration crosses are visible.
Holy Mass is celebrated in the church on the feast day of St. Margaret of Antioch.
Galéria
