Veľká Lomnica

History

Archeological finds of fortified settlement of Baden culture in the locality Burchbrich are dated to the end of stone and beginning of Bronze Age, more than 4000 years ago. 70 small animal sculptures were found as well as many tools. In the first century BC, the Celts settle here and during Great Moravia period the Slavs arrive. The village was first mentioned in 1257. The original Slav population was outnumbered by German settlers in the Middle Ages. Before the establishment of independent Czechoslovakia in 1918, Veľká Lomnica was part of Szepes County within the Kingdom of Hungary. From 1939 to 1945, it was part of the Slovak Republic. On 28 January 1945, the Red Army dislodged the Wehrmacht from Veľká Lomnica in the course of the Western Carpathian offensive and it was once again part of Czechoslovakia. In the upheavals of 1945 the Germans were expelled and now the population is formed by Slovak settlers mainly from Pohorela and region of Gorals and also by Roma ethnic group. The well preserved romano-gothic church of Catherine of Alexandria was built in the 13th century and rebuilt in the 15th century. It has unique gothic wall frescoes discovered in the 1950s. The fresco "King Ladislaus fighting the Cumans" is considered one of the most valuable in Slovakia.