The story of Cathedral of St. Elizabeth

You are standing before the largest church in Slovakia and one of the easternmost Gothic cathedrals in Europe. It can hold more than five thousand people, and its north tower rises 59 metres. The story begins with a fire.

An older church dedicated to Saint Elizabeth stood here, but in 1380 it burned, and wealthy citizens, backed by Emperor Sigismund of Luxembourg, began a new cathedral. In 1402 Pope Boniface IX even promised forgiveness of sins to pilgrims who gave money to the building. Step inside and notice the unusual layout: the central nave and four aisles are crossed in the middle by a transept of the same height and width, forming a Greek cross.

After the death of Matthias Corvinus in 1490, the Polish–Lithuanian regent John I Albert attacked Košice, and his cannons heavily damaged the church. Work was finally considered finished in 1508, a date confirmed by a scroll in the name of master builder Krumpholz, found inside a presbytery pillar during a renovation in 1908.