Šoporňa on the Váh: Riverside Setting and Cultural Heritage

Šoporňa lies in the Danubian Lowland on the left bank of the Váh. Its riverside setting provides the scenic backdrop for a village whose history can be traced through both old routes and churches and chapels. For orientation: Šoporňa is about seven kilometres southeast of Sereď, on the road towards Šaľa. From the Bratislava–Nitra motorway, the village can be seen on the right after Sereď.

On the left bank of the Váh

Fishing is regularly practised at Šoporňa along an old branch of the Váh. The village is also known for a hunting ground devoted to pheasant breeding. While the left bank describes the geographical location, fishing along the old branch and the focus of the hunting ground represent different ways the landscape is used.

Historic routes and watermills

Šoporňa was first mentioned in a written record in 1251 under the name Supurni. The most important Czech-Hungarian long-distance road ran through the village from the Danubian Lowland, across the Little Carpathians, to Moravia. What remains of it today is a field track that separates the Novčaš field from Hony and has always been called Novozámska cesta. The long-distance route and the local remnant of the road thus represent two different scales of transport history.

Historic watermills stood along the Old Váh; after the Váh was regulated in 1933, they were moved across from the church into the bed of the New Váh. Both the river course and the relocation of the mills are therefore part of the village’s history.

Churches, chapels and local culture

Several building phases can be distinguished among the religious buildings. The chapel “Kaplnka sv. Anny” was built in 1750, probably in gratitude for the end of a plague epidemic; the church “Kostol Panny Márie Snežnej” was built in 1770. The chapel “Kaplnka Panny Márie na Štrkovci” was built in the Neo-Gothic style towards the end of the 19th century.

The church “Kostol Panny Márie Snežnej” is a single-nave building with a polygonal presbytery termination and an integrated tower. It contains Baroque statues of Saints Peter and Paul from the second half of the 18th century. A single-nave building is arranged around a main space; the polygonal termination describes the many-sided end of the presbytery, or altar area. The statues, by contrast, are part of the furnishings, not the building’s basic form.

The chapel in Štrkovec has a Neo-Gothic façade with two small towers on either side. Neo-Gothic reuses Gothic design forms in a later period; here, the style is evident in the façade. A wooden bell tower made of oak stands by the chapel. It dates from the beginning of the 20th century and was completely reconstructed in 2007.

The former annual mass at the chapel “Kaplnka sv. Anny” is no longer held. Šoporňa’s multifunctional cultural centre also houses an exhibition room dedicated to folk traditions. The local cultural story thus ranges from historic religious buildings to the folk traditions showcased at the cultural centre.

Discover more destinations: Dolná Streda, Gallandau, Tomášikovo, Matúškovo, Pusté Úľany, Zemianske Sady, Šintava, Košúty.

For the overarching travel overview: Galanta.