The Calvinist Church – Chetfalva

Chetfalva is located on the right banks of the river Tisza, and was mentioned in documents for the first time in 1341. No written sources specify the period when its church was built. However, regarding its layout, the original, medieval form has been preserved. The entire church was built in a single period, probably in the 15th century. Its sanctuary is enclosed by five sides of an octagon, its nave is 7.5 metres long and 5.5 metres wide. The sacristy was demolished. The western portal is spanned by a lancet arch.

Two windows spanned by lancet arches provide light to the nave. In the 18th century, these windows were probably made larger as compared to their initial sizes. The frontispiece was painted in the Middle Ages, proof of this fact has been found during restoration works.

On the inside, in the northern wall of the nave, a small tabernacle spanned by an ogee arch was discovered. Another tabernacle with richly articulated framing was found in the sanctuary’s northern wall.
Opposite to the sanctuary, a lancet arch spanned a sedilia. This was walled-up, but during restoration it was uncovered and several high-quality stone carvings, stones from piers supporting walls as well as imposts supporting the ribs of an original vaulted ceiling were also found. These imposts were covered with reddish paint.

These stone details and remains were put on display as part of an exhibition inside the church.
During restoration works necessitated by flood-related damages suffered by this place of worship in 1998 and 2001, József Lángi probed the walls of the church and identified several medieval mural paintings.
The picture on the chancel arch lends itself to a possible interpretation. The artist started this painting, representing Saint Michael, by using the fresco technique. The person in the picture stands in front of a white background, raises his right arm and stabs with his lance the Satan lying at his feet. (However, the image of Satan cannot be distinguished any more.)
The observable architectural details and the paintings support the idea that the entire church was built in a single period, at the middle of the 15th century, when the village belonged to the Szécsi family.
A wooden bell tower with four pinnacles was built before the Western frontispiece.

The painted wooden ceiling and all the other elements pertaining to it stem from the Reformation period and are the work of Ferenc Lándor Asztalos. He is the artist who made the wooden ceiling of the Calvinist church in Tákos, too. On the northern and the western sides of the nave, there are painted wooden galleries. The pulpit and its richly decorated canopy are also interesting.