Saint Emeric Roman Catholic Church in Ghelința

The great chronicler Balázs Orbán once said, "Anyone, while in Ghelința... if they don't take a hike along the stream valley, they would miss out on a great pleasure because there timidly hides the most interesting landscape among the mountains..."

The village hides another treasure: the Roman Catholic church. It seems like a modest country monument, like so many others, but in reality, through the ensemble of mural paintings that entirely decorate the walls of the nave, it draws attention as an exceptional monument, worthy of being placed among the most important testimonies of medieval art in our country. In fact, the church is considered a cult monument by UNESCO, and its mural paintings are highly appreciated and well-known to art historians.

Those who visit the monument today cannot escape the sumptuous impression conveyed by the interior fresco. Indeed, the walls of the nave are entirely covered with paintings of remarkable artistic value. The most famous is the fresco on the northern wall.

The scenes of the legend of Saint Knight Ladislaus painted here are intertwined, not being separated by frames, which enhances the dynamic effect of the representation.

The Story of the place

The earliest reference related to Ghelința, more precisely to the settlement's church, dates back to 1499. The main body of the church consists of a nave of suitable dimensions (12X8 m), built of rough stone. In its initial form, the church in Ghelința belonged to the Romanesque style.

In 1628, the old ceiling of the nave was replaced with a coffered ceiling, decorated with floral and heraldic motifs, in a style that became familiar to the Transylvanian Renaissance. The last important moment for the architecture of the church in Ghelința occurred in the 18th century and bears the stamp of the artistic moment of the Baroque. From a religious confession point of view, the population of the village of Ghelința remained Roman Catholic, even in the decades following the emergence of the Reformation.

On the altar of the Virgin Mary, one can observe the icon of the Weeping Virgin, a replica of the original one, painted in 1681 and now located at the Nicula Monastery. According to local beliefs, it is said that in 1699, the icon of Mary began to weep, and based on 28 testimonies of Austrian soldiers, Cardinal Leopold Karl von Kollonitsch officially sanctioned the cult of the icon and entrusted it to the Jesuits of Cluj for safekeeping. Shortly afterward, numerous copies of it appeared, and its cult spread throughout Transylvania.

Representation of the Legend of Saint Ladislaus

Vasile Drăguț, a professor and art critic, author of numerous specialized studies, extensively studied the representations of the legend of Saint Ladislaus in Transylvanian medieval iconography. He notes the dynamism of the illustrations at Ghelința, probably made around the year 1300, which capture the episodes: the Blessing given by the bishop of Oradea, Departure to battle, Battle of Kerles, Pursuit of the Cuman, Fight with the Cuman, and Decapitation of the Cuman. He remarks on the artistic inventiveness of the fresco authors and the convincing expression of the compositions preserved on the northern wall of the church nave.

Unique Experiences

If you are interested in history, art, but also nature, know that you will find them abundantly here, in this hidden place among the mountains. The area preserves popular customs related to the major events in human life and customs related to the religious calendar.

You can also study the beauty of traditional Szekler wooden gates, especially the one at the entrance to the village, a sculpture created by the Both brothers and Mr. Biró Laszló. And if you want to take a walk towards the peak of Nádika, you will have the chance to admire the wonderful panorama of the commune and its surroundings.