St. Anne's Chapel (Markovice)
The St. Anna Chapel (Czech kaple sv. Anny or New Burial Chapel of the House of Auersperg ) was a neo-Romanesque sacral building in the Markovice district of the Žleby municipality in the Czech Republic . It was built between 1909 and 1912 according to plans by the architect Humbert Walcher von Moltheim on the site of the baroque church of St. Anna built and demolished in 1986/87. In its place there is now a quarry, where the linden avenue that once led from Žleby to the chapel ends.
location
The St. Anna Chapel and its predecessor building were, next to the older St. Mark's Church, one of two church buildings on the Markovická vyvýšenina ( Markowitzer Höhe ). It was visible from afar on the south side of the hill and became a dominant feature of the area between Žleby and Čáslav.
history
Church of St. Anna
In 1692, Baron von Kaiserstein, owner of the Žleby estate , had the church of Sts on the Markowitzer Höhe above the old Markuskirche. Erect Anna. The baroque building had two bell towers on its gable front, which, however, were never equipped with bells.
At the beginning of the 20th century, the Church of St. Anne was in poor condition. In 1909, the municipality of Žleby approved the building application from Franz Josef von Auersperg to demolish the church and build a new burial chapel for the Auersperg family, whose family crypt was until then in the chapel dedicated to St. Cross located.
St. Anne's Chapel
The three-aisled neo-Romanesque basilica with Byzantine and Venetian elements was built by the builder Šelem according to plans by the architect Humbert Walcher von Moltheim. Jacob in Šibenik modeled after. The tower was in the western facade. The stone used came from the then still small quarry on the height. Only a sacristy door was taken over from the old church. The large chapel was surrounded by a square courtyard with cloisters. Auersperg's crypt was under the courtyard. The building, completed in 1912, was, like its predecessor, St. Consecrated to Anna.
The amphibolite quarry operated by the Auersperg family on the Markowitzer Höhe experienced a major expansion in the 1920s and 1930s. In 1942, after the death of Ferdinand Maria Auersperg, the male line of the family, heir to Žleby Castle and the associated goods, became his son-in-law Josef von Trauttmansdorff . His possessions in Czechoslovakia were confiscated and nationalized in 1945 by the Beneš decrees . The last burial took place in 1948. A total of 13 people were buried in the Auersperg crypt.
After the Second World War, the facility began to deteriorate, which was accelerated by the blasting work in the quarry and by supersonic flights from the Čáslav military airfield . In addition, the tombs were devastated by grave robbers who were only able to withstand the stone sarcophagi with stone lids weighing several tons.
At the beginning of the 1970s, the quarry reached the 50 m protection zone of the listed St. Anna Chapel and was largely exhausted. On the basis of a geological survey of the Markowitzer Höhe carried out in 1976–1977, in which an amphibolite deposit of 1.4 million m³ was detected, lengthy negotiations began with government agencies and members of the Auersperg family with the aim of liquidating the chapel.
After a consensus was reached on the transfer of the remains of the Auersperg family to the renovated St. Mark's Church, in which the Zemanen Koudel from Žitnice had their burial place, the Czechoslovak Ministry of Culture lifted the monument protection at the end of April 1984.
The planned celebratory transfer of the Auersperg family's bones to the Markuskirche was stopped by the state security . Instead, the reburial was carried out on May 8, 1986 without public supervision under the supervision of the secret police. On December 15, 1986, the tower of the chapel was blown up, then the remaining buildings were demolished.
In the meantime the quarry wall has far exceeded the location of the chapel. The only reminder of the chapel is an avenue of lime trees leading from Žleby to the quarry and the name of the single layer Bažantnice u Sv. Anny - a former pheasant hunter's house.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Johann Gottfried Sommer : The Kingdom of Bohemia; Represented statistically and topographically. Volume 11: Caslauer Kreis. Ehrlich, Prague 1843, p. 30.
Coordinates: 49 ° 53 ′ 32.7 " N , 15 ° 27 ′ 32.7" E