Church of St. Giles / Kostel Sv. Jiljí - Horovice (Central Bohemia) - Baroque Architecture on Waymarking.com

Church of St. Giles (kostel Sv. Jiljí), at its core a Gothic structrure from the 14th century, was rebuilt twice in the Baroque style (17th and 18th century). Church shows the location of the original Horovice settlement and it is one of the oldest buildings in the town. St. Giles is a filial church of the Horovice Roman Catholic parish.

The church probably dates from the first half of the 13th century, when Horovice belonged to the Žirotín family. The first written mention of the church comes from 1321, when Plichta of Žirotín and his brothers Jarek and Habart donated his right of delivery to the Poor Clares in Panenský Týnec. The lower part of the tower, the saddle portal to the sacristy and the broken windows have been preserved from the original Gothic church. The interior of the church was transformed into a three-nave structure after reconstruction in 1583. The church was burned down during the Thirty Years' War (1624 and 1639). After the death of Bernard Ignác of Martinice in 1687, its Baroque reconstruction was completed. Under of a bew Horovice demesne owner, Eugene Count of Vrbno, a Rococo reconstruction took place (1736-1749). During this last rebuilding the church acquired a typical Rococo dome and a new interior (1740, chronogram on the ceiling of the nave).

Interior: main Baroque column altar with plastic canopy extension and central statue of St. Giles; Baroque side altar Holy Cross; relief of the Immaculate Conception on the north wall of the presbytery, altar of St. Anne and the altar of the Sorrowful Mother of God. There are three bells in the church tower.