Frigyesvágása (Polish: Frydman) is a village in Poland, located in the former Nowy Sącz County, now part of the Lesser Poland Voivodeship, but it belonged to the Kingdom of Hungary until 1918. It lies 16 km north-west of the village of Szepesófalu, at the confluence of the Bialka stream with the Csorsztini reservoir. It is famous for its fortified manor house and the similarly fortified church of St. Szaniszló. Location: https://tinyurl.com/bddcnht3
The settlement was founded in the Kingdom of Hungary around 1308 by Hunfalvi Friedrich Soltész under German law. It was first mentioned in 1326 as “Freudmanuagasa”. It belonged to the Nedec manor, and after its dissolution, it became the property of the Salamon family.
Frigyesvágása, the fortified manor
The first castle in the Hungarian village of Frigyesvágása was probably built in the first half of the 14th century by the Berzewiczy family. It was an approximately rectangular residential tower, the remains of which are probably preserved in the present castle cellar.
Horwath György purchased the Nedec estates, including the village of Frigyesvágása, in 1589. At the end of the 16th century, he had the Nedec castle rebuilt into a comfortable residence, and included in this reconstruction the reconstruction of the Frigyesvágása castle, transforming it into a small fortified manor with corner towers, bay windows and a uniform decorative battlement (such as those known from Szepesség – the most similar is probably Frics). The reconstruction was probably carried out by the same master builder as in Nedec (Dunajec).
The Horwath family owned Frigyesvágása until 1857, when it was acquired, together with Nedec, by members of the Salamon family. The fortification was then in a very neglected state and was abandoned in 1881, probably also for this reason. The Novorolsky family, however, bought the semi-ruined building in 1910 and began its gradual restoration. As a result, the fortress suffered architecturally and lost much of its historic value. The dilapidated Renaissance attics were demolished in 1918, and the buildings behind them were replaced by simple tin roofs and separate pitched roofs on the corner towers. The fortress is still in this condition today.
The castle is a rectangular two-storey building measuring approximately 15 x 25 metres. On the façade, which was originally fitted with a gate similar to the gates of the Nedec castle, there is now a simple rectangular entrance of no historical value.
The front corners have windows set diagonally across the floor. At the rear, there are projecting towers in the corners, also two storeys high, with sloping inner walls, giving the interior an irregular pentagonal shape. The central third of the ground floor is occupied by the entrance hall, from which the side pairs of rooms are accessed. The main living spaces are on the first floor, accessed via a staircase to the right of the entrance hall.
The whole building was surrounded by a moat and a modest-sized rampart. Before the 1910s, there were also farm buildings here. These were later completely demolished.
Frigyesvágása – Church of St. Szaniszló
Dating from the early 14th century, the Gothic church of St. Sanislo is one of the oldest surviving monuments in the area. It was destroyed several times in the 17th and 18th centuries and rebuilt in the Baroque style. Despite this, the interior of the church retains its Gothic appearance. It is a single nave building with a polygonal presbytery and external buttresses. The nave originally had a wooden ceiling, but after a fire in 1708, it was given a baroque vaulted ceiling. Most of the interior decoration dates from the second half of the 18th century. The interior contains a valuable high altar, side altar, and choir.
In the western part, there is a tower typical of the Szepes region. The church and the cemetery are surrounded by a wall, the entrance gate of which is located in a low bell tower from the 18th century.
According to a 19th-century description:
In terms of its nave, the church is a Baroque-style building with a pointed arch and a tower in the Upper Hungarian Renaissance style. Sanctuary with three-sided apse and two transept sections. Its windows also have pointed arches. The vaulted ribs and the baroque vaults of the nave are decorated with stucco foliage in baroque style. The nave has cherubs on the capitals of the pilasters. The south doorway has a pointed-arched lining with three pear-shaped half-columns and the same arched lining.
The north side of the nave has an octagonal chapel with a flat plank roof painted blue, with a carved and gilded glorification of the Holy Trinity and Mary nailed to it in the centre. The rest of the ceiling is decorated with stars, and the edges with sculptures of angels making music in a circle. In the corners of the side walls are double niches with statues of apostles.
In the centre of the chapel is an altar with an octagonal balustrade and a richly decorated baroque tabernacle. The chapel was built during the time of the parish priest Lorencz Mihály for 366 Forints (Canonica visitatio from 1801). Length of church: 23 m. Length of sanctuary: 9 m. Width: 6.5 m. Length of nave: 14 m, Width 8.5 m.
More pictures can be found in the Gallery below.
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You can find a few pictures of the church and the fortified manor here:
