Sereď - Stredný Čepeň - Chapel of the Virgin Mary’s Assumption

The beginnings of the pilgrimage in this locality date back to the 1830s, when Sereď and its surroundings were affected by cholera. Many people died there. Thanks to the end of the epidemic, the inhabitants built today's Chapel of the Virgin Mary’s Assumption, then consecrated to Our Lady of Christians, in Stredný Čepeň village. This chapel was built on the site of an older church mentioned in 1634.

The construction of the chapel began in 1832 and was completed in 1835. It is a classicist single-nave building, closed on the east side by a polygonal apse, with a prismatic tower terminated by a pyramid roof. Above its main entrance there are signboards describing the events of 1831. On the altar there is a painting of the Virgin Mary's Assumption. In 2001 the chapel was restored and extended with an annex building. In front of the chapel there are two crosses and the whole area is surrounded from three sides by fourteen stops of the calvary from the beginning of the 20th century. Contemporary Late Baroque Church of St. John the Baptist stands opposite where the parish church originally stood. It burnt down in 1777, therefore the then owner of the estate, count Francis Esterházi, had a new one built in 1781. This single-nave church with a polygonal ending and a built-in tower on the front was last renovated in 1991-1995.

On pilgrim Sunday, believers traditionally go in procession from the parish church to the Chapel of the Virgin Mary’s Assumption. After that, people walk to the chapel in Dolný Čepeň, where it is a tradition to pray litany to the Virgin Mary. This prayer ends the pilgrimage. On the Feast of the Virgin Mary's Assumption, feast festivals are traditionally held in Stredný Čepeň.

Source: Archbishop's Office, Archdiocese of Trnava

Literature:
Encyclopaedia of towns and villages in Slovakia. Lučenec : PS – LINE, 2005, page 117.
List of Monuments in Slovakia, Vol. III. Bratislava : Obzor, 1969, page 95.
www.sered.sk; www.fara.sk; www.strednycepen.host.sk

Contact information:
Address: Roman Catholic Parish Office, Kostolná street no. 10, 926 01 Sereď
Telephone and Fax: 031/7892 867,
E-mail: farnost.sered@abu.sk