Church of the Most Holy Trinity / Kostel Nejsvetejší Trojice - Klimkovice (North-East Moravia) - Renaissance Architecture on Waymarking.com

The Renaissance Church of the Most Holy Trinity (Kostel Nejsvetejší Trojice) with fading Gothic elements, built by Hynek I of Vrbno for minority Catholics in the years 1525-1529, is the oldest preserved building in the town of Klimkovice.

The Church of the Most Holy Trinity in its original Renaissance form is the oldest preserved architectural monument in the town of Klimkovice. Church is located in the NW part of the approximately square area of the former cemetery, currently landscaped, on the western outskirts of the historic center of Klimkovice. The church is opened occasionally and serves primarily as a space for exhibitions or concerts. In the southwest corner of the area of the former cemetery around the church, several cast iron crosses are symbolically preserved as a memorial to the former German inhabitants of the town.

Count Hynek I. Bruntálský of Vrbno gave the impetus for the construction of the Catholic church in the years 1525-1529. He became the owner of the extensive Klimkovice estate in 1513 by marrying Johanka of Bítov. The main parish church of St. Catherine in Klimkovice was used by Protestants, so Count Hynek, as a supporter of the Catholic faith, built a new smaller church in the suburbs for Catholic subjects. The alternation of the Catholic and Evangelical denominations did not stabilize in Klimkovice until the second half of the 17th century under the rule of Counts Wilczek, who were Catholics. The parish church became Catholic and minority Protestants used this small church in the suburbs. The town cemetery was relocated to the church in the suburbs on the basis of an imperial decree, and the church thus became a cemetery church in 1766. Already at the beginning of the 20th century, the capacity of the cemetery was insufficient and the unmaintained church slowly fell into disrepair. Funerals here ended in 1973 and the whole area was landscaped. Subsequently, the church, including the interior, was repaired and is now used for the social and cultural needs of the town of Klimkovice.

The church is a single-nave building with a slightly recessed elongated polygonal presbytery. The main entrance was traditionally oriented to the west. The western façade forms a high brick gable above the profiled crown cornice and is opened only by its own entrance gate with a segmental niche. The facades are opened by large rectangular windows with segmental niches and high armrests: three on the north and south facades of the nave of the church, including the corners, others receded in each corner of the presbytery. The crown cornice has a uniform height level, only the hip roof above the presbytery is lower than the roof above the nave of the church. Above the ridge of the presbytery roof rises a small sanctus turret with a low pyramidal roof