Journey to St. George rotunda.

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Having holidays, I decided to make a trip into hills. The journey was long and on a way back I was afraid of heavy dark storm clouds, but it was worth to go. As someone said a journey is as important, as the place to which it is directed.

Summertime in fields.

But very soon I was embraced by cold air of woods. It was windy and woods were full of strange noises and whispers. Quite shivering, if you walk alone.

Deep there in the hills of Povazsky Inovec, above small village, there is the oldest church found in Central Europe. It is rotunda, built originally in Romanesque style in early 9th century and dedicated to Saint George. Its tower is quite recent.

Rotunda still owns its original walls up to 3 metres above the terrain. It stands on the Marhat hill (748 m above the sea). This name is assigned to Frank chronicler, who mentioned in his chronicle this hill and called it in 892 A.D. Maraha. Marharii is old German name for citizens of Great Moravia. During 9th century this region was inhabited by Moravians (Slavic tribe) and was strongly christianized. Greek brothers, who were born in Thessalonica, St. Cyril and Methodius, arrived to this region in the 9th century and influenced cultural development in this region. They translated lithurgic texts and Bible into domestic language and rewrote them in a new alphabet (used until now by East Orthodox Church). This was something extraordinary in early medieval times and even later when in majority of Europe were used Latin and Greek as lithurgic languages. St. Cyril and Methodius brought here not just christianity, but also alphabet and literature. Maybe now you understand why we are more “byzantine-like”. Famous is the sentence of Method: „Nations are naked when they are without their own books“. Here is original old Slavic lithurgic pray “Our Father”. Just for those, who are curious.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8wt3Jf_tXk

Under Marhat hill, which is full of archeological findings from the Stone age (limestone caves around here were inhabited by the Mamooth hunters, special subgroup of Prehistoric man, who widely used art in caves) there is now a spacious meadow. Excavations in seventies showed, that here existed a colony of Slavs in the 9th century who had extensively mined iron ore here almost untill 13th century.

Once there was a live settlement, now here grow only grass and herbs.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vHMsp3lg5gM

In some places, where rainwater took upper layers of soil away, you can see even now, that the soil is rich in iron.

Local Golgota, made in the 18th century by simple folk artist.

Although the wooden notice board declares that these woods are inhabited by moufflon, fallow deer, wild boar and wild cat, I didn´t see any of them. Just this wild rabbit hiding in a grass along the road.

• 25 Jun, 2013
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