© Slovak Post, 2009 One of the most well-known Romanesque buildings in Slovakia stands on a small area of chalk rock above the village Dražovce. The small church consists of a rectangular even ceiling nave, a low apse vaulted by a half-dome and a slim pyramidal tower dominating the western gallery. It represents the oldest layer of rural sacral architecture on the territory of Slovakia. The small but simple building devoted to the archangel Michael has gone through not a smooth development – main phases date back from the 11th till the 13th century. The church was erected at the site of an older church that had almost identical ground plan but was a bit smaller. The predecessor originated in the 2nd half of the 11th century the latest and at that time there used to be a graveyard in the vicinity. It is unknown to us when and why it disappeared. The new church built up apparently only shortly afterwards respected its original disposition. Into a great extent, it has created outer walls of the preserved building till today. During the following construction adjustments, the nave together with the apse was extended. Apse decoration of brick roof frieze was added. Moreover, windows were adjusted and the tower was also extended. Surprisingly, recent research works have uncovered that the additional element in the church architecture is the gallery which had long been considered to be its original part. It was built in the western part of the church probably as late as in the 13th century which caused the development of the church disposition cease. The oldest design of the gallery consisted of a ground part open into the nave by three arcades on tetragonal pillars. On the upper floor, there used to be a central wall broken by an arcade and a wooden balustrade. Similarly designed galleries are important parts of the whole range of Romanesque churches. Bibiana Pomfyová