The treasure of Gothic art in Slovakia.

(From The Slovak Spectator)

Byline: Zuzana HabSudova Spectator staff

A colossal exposition shows the richest era in the country's cultural history - and the need to preserve it THREE statues over two metres high of Madonna, St Catherine, and St Barbara, from Banska Stiavnica, which were carved in wood at the beginning of the 16th century, most probably belong to one altar. Since the altar was dismantled in 1727, nobody has seen them stand next to each other. The Madonna belongs to the local Church of St Catherine, and the two other saints are the property of the town's Slovak Mining Museum. For the first time, the public has the chance to see the trio reunited at the monumental exhibition Gothic Art, which recently opened in Bratislava. Over 300 exhibits are displayed in rooms of the Slovak National Gallery's two buildings and at the Bratislava City Museum located in the Old Town Hall. "The gothic style represents the richest era in our cultural history - in the quality of the monuments and in their significance for the history of European art," said DuSan Buran, the exhibition's curator and the editor of a 900-page representative publication. Apart from wooden sculptures and panel paintings, which mostly come from larger wholes, like altars, there are also crosses, chalices, garments, censers, and monstrance articles made of gilded silver and richly decorated. There is the early 16th century altarpiece of St Anne from the SpiS region, and the mid-14th century sandstone sculptures from the Adoration of the Magi series garnishing the tower of Bratislava's Klarisky Church. "The exhibition has two goals. The first is to point out the exceptional artistic quality of the preserved collection of gothic art in Slovakia and, at the same time, its acute endangerment, if those at the top level don't start relevant intervention in favour of its recovery [soon]. The second goal, or scientific ambition of the project, is to bring the ...