Landmarks of the city
Moldava nad Bodvou

History

The gate may have been built between 1750 and 1790 from spruce wood. It is a memorial to the year 1795, when Moldava was almost completely destroyed by fire. The five-thousand-volume library also fell victim to the blaze, and the tragedy did not pass without loss of life. Apart from the churches, which were left without roofs and whose bells melted, only this gate was spared from the flames. After the fire, a Latin inscription was carved into it as a remembrance: “I burned in the flames, and yet I was not consumed… "

Fig. 1. Historical photograph of the original gate (the mid-20th century)

Description of the gate

The Szojka Gate is a courtyard entrance, a so-called “Turkish” gate, with a double-leaf entrance for carts and livestock, and a single-leaf pedestrian entrance. Both entrances are finished with a simple semicircular arch decorated with modest carved ornamentation on the jambs. On the lintel above the double-leaf entrance, there is a Latin inscription from the year 1865 arranged in two two-line columns. The gate wings are rectangular; the lower part is solid with vertical decorative moulding, while the upper part features openwork moulding. The metal fittings, preserved only on the upper part of one wing, display simple wrought floral decoration. The saddle-roof canopy covered with wooden shingles is of a later date.

Fig. 2. Simple ornament on the jamb (replica of the gate)

Szojka Gate at present

A copy of the wooden gate was unveiled in 1996. It is located in the park by the Reformed Church on Hlavná Street, in front of house no. 33, where it originally stood. It bears the Latin inscription: VSTVM COMBVSTVM SED INVESTVM / PATER AB EXCELSIS // LINQVE NON VSTVM / PARCE TVIS LIBERIS, which in free translation means: “found scorched in the ashes, destroyed yet whole // left unburned to your humble children.”.

Fig. 3. The replica of the Szojka Gate today (in the background is the house to which it once belonged)

The original Szojka Gate is currently part of the collection of the East Slovak Museum, where it arrived in 1978 after being purchased from its owner (Ján Szojka, present-day Hlavná 33). Until 2009, it was displayed in the museum courtyard.

Szojka Gate through the eyes of artificial intelligence

Listen to the song about the Szojka Gate: