Holiday apartment in Veľká Mača: museum and sacred history

Culture

The Veľká Mača Museum is located next to the municipal office in Veľká Mača and is an important branch of the Museum of Regional Studies in Galanta. Its focus is on archaeological artefacts relating to the settlement development of Veľká Mača and the wider surrounding area. The finds from Mačianske vŕšky range from the Middle Stone Age to the Middle Ages, offering a broad chronological perspective on the history of settlement. The view of the municipality does not stop at prehistory: a separate section of the museum is devoted to the more recent history of Veľká Mača in the 19th and 20th centuries. The museum also includes an ethnographic and natural history section with objects from Veľká Mača and the surrounding area.

The collection brings together several periods while retaining its local focus. The archaeological objects point to the settlement development of Veľká Mača and the wider surrounding area; the finds from Mačianske vŕšky cover the period from the Middle Stone Age to the Middle Ages. The ethnographic and natural history section additionally brings together objects from Veľká Mača and the surrounding area. This perspective is complemented by the history of the municipality in the 19th and 20th centuries. Early settlement traces, regional collection areas and more recent local history thus stand side by side in the same place.

Landscape and location

Veľká Mača is located in the Danubian Lowland. South of the village lies an oak grove, which forms a clearly defined landscape feature of the surrounding area. The main road is also important for locating the village; Veľká Mača lies along it, and it connects Sereď with Sládkovičovo. The lowland, the grove and the road connection describe the location from different spatial perspectives without reducing it to a single point of reference.

Church and furnishings

The Roman Catholic Church of Saint John the Baptist in Veľká Mača was built in 1783 in the Classicist style with Baroque elements. An original medieval stone baptismal font has been preserved in the church interior. The Classicist high altar dates from the second half of the 18th century and bears an image of Saint John the Baptist. Next to the church stands a Baroque statue of Saint John of Nepomuk dating from 1732.

Memorial sites

In the centre of Veľká Mača stands the sculpture group of the Holy Trinity on the site where the old church once stood. Another monument commemorates the more recent past: the Deportation Monument in Veľká Mača commemorates the resettlement and deportation of the population in 1947.

Sacred sites

The religious history of the village also includes the sculpture group of the Holy Family in Veľká Mača, erected in 1867 at the instigation of Anton Miklós. Veľká Mača is also home to the Lourdes grotto “Lurdská jaskyňa”, for which the year 1991 is given. In one of the churches, there is an altar at which Pope John Paul II celebrated Mass during his first visit to Slovakia in 1990.

To the main travel overview: Veľká Mača.