History & local legend
St. Nicholas Croatian Catholic Church in Millvale is known for the murals painted by Croatian American artist Maxo Vanka. Father Albert Zagar commissioned the work, and Vanka completed the principal paintings in two periods, 1937 and 1941. Their religious imagery is intertwined with immigrant life, industrial labor, and the suffering caused by war.
A persistent story about the project concerns Vanka working in the church at night. According to the tradition recounted in Pennsylvania Heritage, the artist was visited by the presence of a former pastor while he painted. The story associates the encounter with the creation of the murals rather than with a later visitor's investigation.
