The St Roch roadside shrine

The chapel was built by the inhabitants prior to the Second World War.

It is a three-level brick chapel with colourful plaster. The lowest level consists of a two-step pedestal, currently lined with ceramic tiles. The elongated middle part of the chapel is ornamented with rectangular panels with light plaster. In the front blind window, there is a small cross with Jesus Christ. In the upper part of this level, there is a frieze embellished with even-armed crosses carved in the plaster and filled with white paint contrasting with the yellow background. The middle and the upper level are separated with a cornice. Over the cornice, there are corner pillars with an arcade at the top. Under a barrel vault, there is a statue of St Roch. The upper level is ornamented with the same frieze as the middle one; a modest cornice separates it from a frieze located under the eaves. The chapel is topped with a four-hipped roof crowned with a small metal cross.

St Roch is there depicted as a young pilgrim with a stick and a wanderer’s bag accompanied by a dog holding a loaf of bread in its mouth. The bag and the dog with the bread are the most frequently seen attributes of the saint. St Roch, as a young man wandering on foot from his home town of Montpellier in France to Rome, looked after people suffering from the plague. On his way back, he was taken for a spy, closed in a dungeon, and tortured. When he died, an inscription appeared on the wall of his prison: “Those who are affected by the plague and call St Roch for help, as their mediator and advocate, they will be cured”.

According to the folk tradition, St Roch was supposed to protect people from plague and he is also a guardian of domestic animals.