(source: TASR)
The church bell that originally hung in the now-collapsed bell tower in Zacharovce has found a new home in the church in the village of Chanava. What was originally a Calvinist church has stood in this village in the Rimavská Sobota district since 1830 and last year repairs to the church were finished. Andrea Nagyová, the vicar of the Reformed Church, told the TASR newswire that the interior of the church’s tower was rebuilt so that it can hold three bells.
The church in Chanava is on Slovakia’s list of national cultural monuments. The bell from Zacharovce was moved to Chanava after its bell tower collapsed. “Our church acquired a bell that was donated to us”, Nagyová stated, adding that it was a miracle that the bell survived its fall from the tower in Zacharovce.
She said sponsors helped clean all of the church’s bells and their operation is now programmed by digital technology. “The bells were cleaned, treated and turned slightly so that their clappers do not hit the same spot every time because this could destroy the bell after some time,” the vicar said, noting that they managed “to place the bell from Zacharovce in a way that it keeps rotating on bearing joints” and that the church would like to arrange its original bells in this manner at a later time.
The vicar told TASR that several important personalities from the past lived and worked in Chanava, such as Mihály Tompa (1852-1868), an activist, priest and poet, who is now buried with his family in the village.
