St. John Nepomuk Church / Poutní kostel sv. Jana Nepomuckého (Zelená Hora)
N 49° 34.810 E 015° 56.520
33U E 568095 N 5492379
This small pilgrimage church constructed at the beginning of the 18th century on a star-shaped plan is the most unusual work of the great architect Jan Blažej Santini-Aichl, whose highly original style falls between neo-Gothic and Baroque...
Waymark Code: WM679M
Location: Kraj Vysočina, Czechia
Date Posted: 04/16/2009
Views: 164
The pilgrimage Church of St. John Nepomuk at Zelená Hora in Ždár nad Sázavou (In Czech: Poutní kostel sv. Jana Nepomuckého na Zelené hore) was already considered a stunning architectural achievement at the time of its construction because its features far exceeded all conventional elements of the architecture of the period.
Construction work on the church, consecrated to Czech martyr St. John of Nepomuk (Sv. Jan Nepomucký in Czech), commenced in 1719. Václav Vejmluva, the abbot of the Cistercian monastery, commissioned Jan Blažej Santini-Aichl, one of the leading exponents of the European Baroque style, to conceive a design for the building. Santini created a fascinating combination of the Gothic and Baroque styles. The structure features a ground plan in the form of a five-pointed star, whose ends are penetrated by five oval chapels. Between them are located five apses. The church is crowned with a central cupola and light of partically uniform intensity floods the whole space. Despite giving the impression of a rather small space, the church can contain as many as 2,000 people.
In 1994 the pilgrimage church at Zelená Hora was added to the UNESCO List of World Heritage.