Church of St. Anna, Strážky, Spišská Belá

St. Anne's Church has one nave on a square plan, with a cross vault resting on a central pillar. Its polygonal presbytery has one bay of ribbed vaulting. A Gothic sacristy adjoins it on the north, and a later crypt annex (1706) adjoins the nave. The building, paintings and furnishings are Late Gothic. Entry is through a south porch with a barrel vault and a round-arched stone portal carved like intersecting rods. Three exceptionally fine Late Gothic panel altars survive inside. The main altar from the early 16th century is dedicated to St. Anne. Its central sculpture, St. Anne with the Virgin and infant Jesus, is a rare depiction of this theme. Paintings of St. Joachim and St. Joseph complete the altar cabinet. The movable wings show scenes from St. Anne's life when open and scenes from the Passion on their reverse. An early 16th-century side altar of Saints Simon and Jude Thaddeus has rich painting and carving. Figures of the saints stand in its cabinet; the predella bears the Man of Sorrows, with the Virgin and St. John the Evangelist. Its movable wings have eight scenes on wooden panels: legends of the saints when open and part of the Passion cycle when closed. The upper structure is elaborately carved with typical Late Gothic ornament. The third, Marian altar has a central image of the Madonna and clothed infant Jesus on a fantastic dragon, flanked by St. Catherine and St. Barbara. Two further saints complete it: the older St. Nicholas and the younger St. Stanislaus. Its most precious feature is a sculpture of the Madonna and Child. Despite missing parts, its workmanship and expression rank it among the finest Late Gothic sculptures. Recently uncovered wall paintings complement the almost intact interior; they were covered with limewash during the Reformation. Dating from the second decade of the 16th century, they were painted al secco on dry plaster and al fresco on wet plaster. Passion scenes on the west wall follow designs by Albrecht Dürer and Lucas Cranach, whose woodcuts circulated throughout Europe. A red marble baptismal font from 1593 survives from the Renaissance, covered by a polychrome folk-style wood carving from the 18th century. Some movable furnishings are now in the Slovak National Gallery in Bratislava.

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