The Calvinist Church –Tiachiv

The name of Tiachiv appeared in records for the first time in 1308. Its inhabitants were primarily salt miners. Charles I conferred royal privileges onto the settlement in 1329. Although the township had been until the end of the Middle Ages one of the five royal free-towns of Máramaros county, it was annexed later to the Khust estate.

A three-storey tower dominates the western frontispiece of the church; the nave has a rectangular, while the sanctuary connected to it a square base. The sacristy is on the northern side of the latter. On the southern wall of the sanctuary, one can see two large windows, spanned by semi-circular arches; while, two more windows divide the eastern wall. Archivolts span the latter ones. The portal opened through the southern wall of the nave is spanned by a lancet arch.

Inside the church, a semi-circular or round arch is the chancel arch separating the chancel from the nave. On the western side, a large gallery supports the organ built in 1853. The nave’s painted wooden coffered ceiling was made in 1748. Most of the panels are decorated with ornamental motifs; however, the artist painted figural representations or inscriptions on some of them.
A rib vault ceiling covers the sanctuary, the ribs being supported by canopies. The latter were covered with a thick layer of lime coating, which was removed in recent years by the restorer, József Lángi. In this manner, the plant-like ornaments on these canopies became visible. The south-eastern canopy is decorated with criss-crossing vines to which acorns and leaves are attached; while the two on the northern side are decorated with acorns and oak leaves as well as grape leaves and clusters, respectively.

The church was built in several successive stages. The latest addition is the tower stemming from 1810. The extension of the nave took place earlier, probably in 1748.
Apart from these later additions, the medieval church may well be the result of a unitary building project, since single-nave churches having square-based sanctuaries and sacristies on the northern sides of the latter were extremely widespread in the 13th and 14th centuries. The windows on the eastern wall of the sanctuary and the southern gate stem, arguably, from these times. 
The sanctuary covered by a rib vault ceiling and decorated with the beautifully carved canopies is ‘related’ in this respect to the church in nearby Vyshkove.

Most probably, the church had been built at the end of the 13th or the beginning of the 14th century, when the settlement flourished being supported through official royal policies.
The wall explorations performed in 2012 uncovered a fragment of a medieval mural painting. Continuing this work could add to the church’s fame and touristic importance.