Kostel sv. Václava / Church of St. Wenceslas - Žatec (North-West Bohemia)
N 50° 19.823 E 013° 32.308
33U E 395978 N 5576386
The small church of St. Wenceslas (Kostel Sv. Václava) in Žatec, with a Gothic core from the beginning of the 16th century, was modified in the Baroque style after damage in the Thirty Years' War.
Waymark Code: WM12HJW
Location: Ústecký kraj, Czechia
Date Posted: 05/31/2020
Views: 14
The small church of St. Wenceslas (Kostel Sv. Václava) in Žatec, with a Gothic core from the beginning of the 16th century, was modified in the Baroque style after damage in the Thirty Years' War. Church is currently a filial church of Žatec Roman-Catholic parish and services are held here according to the parish schedule.
The first written mention of the Church of St. Wenceslas in this Žatec suburb locality dates from 1357 - it was a parish church which was later under the patronage of the bakery guild (1407). However, it is not certain that the current church's Gothic presbytery is really from that time - some sources state that it is late-Gothic from 1520.
The subsequent fate of the church until the 17th century is unknown. During the Thirty Years' War, St. Wenceslas, like all the Žatec suburban churches, was damaged. Unlike many others, however, it survived, albeit in a devastated state. Church was repaired at the expense of the local burgher Johann Hossmann knight of Mannfels in 1684. The Baroque half-timbered masonry of the nave dates from that time. At that time it was already a filial church to the main city church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary. The church underwent extensive repairs and was consecrated again in 1844.
The church is a single-nave building with an approximately rectangular floor plan. The nave is made of half-timbered masonry, equipped with semicircular windows on both sides. The old stone presbytery, separated from the nave by reinforced blocks, is illuminated on both sides by two narrow semicircular windows with sloping lintels. The onion-shaped Sanctus turret is incorporated into the roof. The presbytery is vaulted with a ridge vault with lunettes. The triumphal arch is semicircular, the nave covers a modern wooden ceiling.
The church has original interior - early-Baroque main altar with a painting of St. Wenceslas from 1688 (restored in 1865 by J. Schirmer). On the sides are of the Baroque statue of two bishops, then the altar of St. John of Nepomuk from the beginning of the 18th century and the altar of the Infant Jesus of Prague from ca 1720.
Source: excerpted and translated from
Wikipedia
and
National Heritage Institute portal.
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