Žehra
title: "Žehra" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["villages-and-municipalities-in-spišská-nová-ves-district", "world-heritage-sites-in-slovakia", "spiš", "romani-communities-in-slovakia"] topic_path: "general/villages-and-municipalities-in-spisska-nova-ves-district" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Žehra" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::data[format=table title="Infobox Slovak place"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | Žehra |
| other_name | Žehra |
| settlement_type | Municipality |
| image_skyline | Zehra.jpg |
| image_flag | Zehra-spisska nova ves-flag.svg |
| subdivision_type1 | Region |
| subdivision_name1 | Košice Region |
| subdivision_type2 | District |
| subdivision_name2 | Spišská Nová Ves District |
| pushpin_map | Slovakia Košice Region#Slovakia |
| pushpin_relief | 1 |
| pushpin_map_caption | Location of Žehra in the Košice Region##Location of Žehra in Slovakia |
| coordinates | |
| leader_title | Mayor |
| leader_name | Marián Mižigár |
| leader_party | SMS |
| established_title | First mentioned |
| established_date | 1245 |
| elevation_footnotes | |
| elevation_m | 450 |
| postal_code_type | Postal code |
| postal_code | 536 1 |
| area_code | +421 53 |
| registration_plate | SN |
| website | |
| footnotes | {{Infobox UNESCO World Heritage Site |
| Official_name | Levoča, Spiš Castle and the associated cultural monuments |
| Criteria | iv |
| ID | 620 |
| Year | 1993/2009 |
| child | yes |
| :: |
| subdivision_type2 = District | subdivision_name2 = Spišská Nová Ves District | pushpin_map = Slovakia Košice Region#Slovakia | pushpin_relief = 1 | pushpin_map_caption = Location of Žehra in the Košice Region##Location of Žehra in Slovakia | coordinates = | leader_title = Mayor | leader_name = Marián Mižigár | leader_party = SMS | established_title = First mentioned | established_date = 1245 | elevation_footnotes = | elevation_m = 450 | postal_code_type = Postal code | postal_code = 536 1 | area_code = +421 53 |registration_plate = SN | website = | footnotes = {{Infobox UNESCO World Heritage Site | Official_name = Levoča, Spiš Castle and the associated cultural monuments | Criteria = iv | ID = 620 | Year = 1993/2009 | child = yes
Žehra (; ) is a village and municipality in the Spišská Nová Ves District in the Košice Region of central-eastern Slovakia.
Geography
Population
It has a population of people (31 December ).
Ethnicity
The vast majority of the municipality's population consists of the local Roma community. In 2019, they constituted an estimated 81% of the local population.
Religion
Žehra Church
The village was first mentioned in local records in 1245, when Count Johann of Žehra was given permission to construct a church there by the church authorities of Spiš.
The Church of the Holy Spirit was completed in 1275. It is noted both for its picturesque appearance, perched on a mound above the village, and for its remarkable series of wall paintings. These have survived despite much damage to the building, including a fire in the 15th century which burnt down its original ceiling. The remaining building is a single nave structure, topped with onion-shaped domes of the 17th century.
The oldest wall paintings are a set of eight consecration crosses, marking the spots where the original building was christened with holy chrism, and thus dating back to the 13th century.
Later in the 13th century, a second stage of painting is marked by the depiction of Golgotha on the tympanum of the church's south doorway.
Frescoes in the sanctuary, dating from the 14th century, showing Byzantine influence, include representations of the Last Judgement, the Last Supper, the Deposition and Saints Cosmas and Damian, the patron saints of doctors.
On the north wall are two notable 'framed' frescoes, one depicting the Pietà, the other showing a symbolic Tree of Life which dramatises the triumph of the Church over the Synagogue.
Later frescoes date from the 15th century. Following the Battle of Köbölkút in the mid-17th century, the village of Žehra was raided by Ottoman forces and its church was desecrated. Due to this, the region of Žehra is seen as the location for the northernmost extent of the Ottoman expansion into Europe along with the city of Vienna.
These paintings were preserved because after an outbreak of plague in the 17th century, the interior of the church was covered with lime plaster for disinfection. They were discovered again in the 1950s when the lime was removed using cottage cheese - effective for this purpose because it contains casein.
The church was declared a Czechoslovak National Monument in 1985, and in 1993 was listed as a World Heritage Site together with the nearby Spiš Castle, Spišská Kapitula, the National nature reserve of Dreveník (a travertine formation), and (since 2009) the nearby town of Levoča.
Dreveník
Dreveník is a mesa-shaped travertine mound in the Hornád Basin and a national nature reserve. It is located on the border of the districts of Spišská Nová Ves and Levoča. This area, with an area of 1,018,186 m², has been protected since 1925. Together with the nearby Spiš Castle, it has been included in the World Heritage Site of UNESCO since 1993. It is also the largest travertine massif in Slovakia.
References
Other sources
- The Church of the Holy Spirit, Žehra, Košice, 2005
References
- (2015-04-17). "Základná charakteristika". Statistical Office of the Slovak Republic.
- Ábel Ravasz, Ľuboš Kovács and Filip Markovič, ''Atlas rómskych komunít 2019''. Bratislava: Veda, 2020, {{ISBN. 978-80-224-1874-4, database appendix available at:https://www.institutmatejabela.sk/ark2019
- Janosko, Martin. (16 July 2012). "Dreveník National Nature Reserve". carpathiansadventure.eu.
- (2011). "Law Protected Plants Of National Nature Reserve Dreveník (Hornád Basin) In Project Learning". Acta Horticulturae.
- "Dreveník: Zoznam osobitne chránených častí prírody SR". Štátna ochrana prírody SR.
- "Law Protected Plants Of National Nature Reserve Dreveník (Hornád Basin) In Project Learning".
- Administrátor. (2024-06-15). "Skalné mesto Kamenný raj".
- "Dreveník chráni Slovensko už 100 rokov. Z unikátu mohol byť kameňolom, dnes je klenotom európskej siete".
- a.s, Petit Press. "Raj pre turistov aj lezcov. Pozrite si krásnu jar na Dreveníku".
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