Church of St. James the Greater / Kostel Sv. Jakuba Vetšího - Jicín (East Bohemia) - Baroque Architecture on Waymarking.com

Baroque Church of St. James the Greater (kostel Sv. Jakuba Vetšího) in Jicín, a Roman Catholic parish church built in the years 1627-1655, is the main church of the parish of Jicín and the archdeaconry of the Hradec Králové diocese. The church, located on Wallenstein Square (Valdštejnské námestí) close to the Valdice Gate in the historic part of Jicin, is directly connected by a inetersting Baroque covered staircase to the adjoining Wallenstein Chateau.

The church consatruction was was financed by Albrecht of Wallenstein in the immediate vicinity of his Chateau, on the plots of demolished burgher houses, after the Gothic parish church of St. James donated it to the Jesuit order, and they built a college there. The foundation stone of the church was laid in 1627. The architect was Giovanni Battista Pieroni, according to whose design the building was on the ground plan of a Greek cross with the insertion of towering chapels and a protruding pilaster facade. The facade is divided by pilasters bearing a ledge with an attic. The space between the pilasters is divided by niches, in the middle a portal with sections of the ledge. Combined roofs, sheet metal roofing and monk-and-nun tiles. The construction was first led by Andrea Spezza, Wallenstein's court architect, and after his death in 1628, Wallenstein's builder Nicolò Sebregondi took over the construction.

The church was intended as a monumental cathedral for the new diocese, but this plan ended with the assassination of Albrecht of Wallenstein. Construction was halted and the intended dome, along with four towers, was never completed. The church was not put into operation and subsequently handed over until 1655. The church burned down twice during its existence. It burned down for the first time in 1681, after which the entire interior of the church had to be re-plastered and two manor oratories were established on the first floor, and subsequently in 1701 the church was consecrated. For the second time in 1768, after which there was more extensive damage. A year later, the oratory was connected with the manor and the chateau.

The interior paintings are work of the painter of Rococo and beginning Classicism, Josef Kramolín. The ceiling of the dome is covered with an illusory painting and under the dome in spherical triangles there are paintings of Evangelists - Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. In the transept, under the ledge, are paintings of the four Western Church Fathers - St. Ambrose, St. Augustine, St. Gregory the Great and St. Jerome. The main altarpiece is unsigned and depicts the Battle of Clavius in 844, in which Ramiro of Leon defeated the Saracens. Above the army appears St. James on a white horse and gives the Spaniards the courage to fight.

Around the main altar there are life-size statues depicting the apostles of St. Peter and St. Paul. At the southern walls of the transept are late-Baroque altars of the Virgin Mary and the Sacred Heart of the Lord from the Jelínek carving workshop in Kosmonosy. These altars are made of polychrome wood and artificial marble. At the side walls of the church, at the end of the transept, are the altars of St. Anne and teh Holy Family. Even these artistic carvings made around 1770 are from the Jelínek workshop in Kosmonosy.

Source: excerpted and translated from Wikipedia and National Heritage Institute portal.