A new "traditional" church being constructed at Camp Nazareth in Delaware Township will have some special touches -- including shingles made by Slovakian cousins.

When church officials from the American Carpatho Russian Orthodox Greek Catholic Diocese decided to build Sts. Cyril and Methodios Church and Heritage Center, they wanted a church like one would find in Slovakia, said Michael Ristvey.

In an attempt to make the church as authentic as possible, Ristvey said he and architect Joseph P. Parimucha of Alexandria, Va., went to Slovakia in the spring of 2001 to study the churches there.

Ristvey, who is an attorney in Hermitage, said he has been involved with Camp Nazareth since it started in the 1970s. Ristvey established a connection with officials in the Slovakian village of Tichy Potok when Lubice Dzuganova, village mayor, visited the Shenango Valley almost three years ago.

From the visit to Slovakia, Parimucha, a Hermitage native, designed the church for Camp Nazareth, Ristvey said. Part of that design was handmade wooden shingles.

Jozef and Tibor Bilek, who live in Tichy Potok, were hired to make the shingles. The village has been known for shingle-making for over 200 years, Ristvey said.

The cousins shipped over 31,000 shingles for the main roof, and installation began around Thanksgiving.

Hudson Construction Inc., Hermitage, was hired as the construction company for the project, and the Bilek cousins came to Mercer County to show the construction crew how to install the shingles.

"It's a really neat project," Mark Hudson, owner of Hudson's Construction, said. "The whole church is really authentic. The total project was, without a doubt, the most exciting project we've ever done."

The handmade, pine shingles are very narrow and are installed in a tongue-and-groove manner, Hudson said. "They're like nothing I've seen before," he said.

The Bileks don't speak much English, so the workers had to use a lot of hand gestures to communicate when an interpreter was not available, Hudson said.

Hudson said it will probably take four to five times longer to install the shingles than it would using standard American shingles.

The Bileks will be shipping an additional 12,000 shingles specially designed for the cupolas, Ristvey said.

The shingles are shipped by boat into Baltimore and then sent to Zelienople, Pa., where they go through a special pressure treatment process before they can be used in construction, Ristvey said.

The church is designed to hold about 160 people, Ristvey said. Another part of the new building is the Heritage Center Library and Museum, which will house keepsake artifacts and historical books.

Construction should be complete by August, Ristvey said.