Pilgrimage Church of the Visitation (Skoky)

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Visitation of the Virgin Mary in Skoky
Side view

The pilgrimage church of the Visitation of Mary, formerly also Maria Hilf (Czech Kostel Navštívení Panny Marie ) in Skoky (German Maria Stock ), a district of the town of Žlutice ( Luditz ) in the Czech Republic , is a protected architectural monument. Today's baroque church was built between 1736 and 1738 and was an important pilgrimage destination, especially in the 18th century. It has been on the list of state cultural monuments since 1964.

location

The pilgrimage church is located in Skoky on a terrace above a valley basin on the southern slope of the Vraní vrch mountain (630 m).

history

prehistory

The village belonging to the Udritsch rule was first mentioned in 1513. At first, Stock did not have its own church. The area, which was settled by Slavs and later gradually Germanised, became Protestant during the Reformation and was re-Catholicised by the landlord in 1623 . During this time the place came to the parish of Luditz. According to the list of souls of the Saaz District from 1651, 52 subjects lived there, all of them Catholic.

Due to its unfavorable location in a valley basin, Stock was often threatened by floods. Especially in winter it was not possible for the parishioners to attend church services regularly, which the local Premonstratensian pastor Johannes Norbert Rick disliked. Therefore, at the beginning of 1717, after the mass, he called together ten farmers from the village and asked them to donate 10 guilders each for the construction of their own chapel and bell. In a dream the pious farmer Johann Adam Lienert, father of seven children, appeared to the Virgin Mary to remind him of his promise. Therefore he sold his four horses and donated 25 guilders to the church, the lordly office in Udritsch provided the building materials.

Image of grace from 1717

The chapel was consecrated to the Virgin Mary on Rick's advice. The consecration took place on September 29, 1717. The rectangular building was 4 meters long and 2 meters wide, had two windows and was covered with shingles. In the tower hung a bell that was cast in Prague. In 1733 a wooden vestibule was added. After some miraculous healings, a pilgrimage to the miraculous image of Mariahilf developed. The pilgrims came mainly from the Duppau Mountains and the Tepler Highlands, but also from the Pilsen region and the interior of Bohemia.

In autumn 1732, Margravine Sibylla Augusta von Baden asked Archbishop Daniel Joseph Mayer von Mayern of Prague to convene an investigative commission to investigate the “wonderful answers to prayer”. By decree of November 28, 1733, the consistory came to the decision that the image of the Virgin Mary should only be venerated as “good-doing”. On April 3, 1734, permission was given to set up an altar in the chapel and to celebrate Holy Mass. At the same time, the Abbot of Tepl established a congregation of the Virgin Mary to take care of the numerous pilgrims. In 1736 the number was 29,350. The steady influx and the income from victims let the fortune grow to 12,522 guilders.

New building

Postcard around 1930

Between 1736 and 1738, Margrave Ludwig von Baden had a new, imposing pilgrimage church built. The builder was Johann Schmidt from Uitwa, who was also responsible for the new construction of the St. Anna pilgrimage church in Zettlitz . The two-tower baroque building, visible from afar, was erected on a terrace in the valley of the Dorfbach. Originally only one tower was planned. A drainage tunnel was created in the foundations. About 8,000 pilgrims took part in the inauguration in 1738, and 21 barrels of beer were provided for their supply.

Since the church was within the scope of the Luditz parish, Messrs. Kokorowetz von Kokorowa also claimed patronage . A papal bull finally made it possible for Maria Stock to be directly subordinate to the Teplá monastery . In 1746 the church received its own local chaplain along with a cooperator , for whose maintenance the authorities approved a deputate . Empress Maria Theresa confirmed the administration by the monastery. She said the men Kokorowetz of Kokorowa the right to at the opening of the victims stick to be present, and banned the Margrave of Baden in Mary Stock the beer. A separate cemetery was created above the village.

The pilgrimage peaked in the middle of the 18th century with up to 40,000 believers annually. In 1854 the locality was raised to a parish. In addition to Maria Stock, the parishes included Dolanka, Hablmühle, Lindles and Maroditz with the single-layer Röhramühle. The pilgrimages were abolished during the reign of Emperor Joseph II and only resumed in the 20th century.

The last renovation of the church took place in 1903. In 1930 the parish had 96 Catholics. After the Second World War, the German residents were expelled and the access road for the Žlutice dam was flooded. The other houses and the cemetery fell into disrepair. As the church served as a landmark for the military, it escaped the threat of demolition during the communist era. Even after the village was dissolved, the main pilgrimage in Skoky continued on the 1st Sunday in July. Another pilgrimage takes place on the 1st Sunday in May.

present

After the lonely church had repeatedly been the target of burglars, vandals and church robbers since 1990, the Pilsen bishop František Radkovský had the church walled up in 2005. He later made the decision to continue the pilgrimages from 2006 onwards. The church is in a very dilapidated condition, and there is also severe damage from vandalism. Remnants of the valuable inventory are now in the Tepler monastery depot.

In 2014 the Czech film “Maria Stock” received an award at the international film festival in Cottbus. For the 300th anniversary of the consecration of the church on September 29, 2017, the association "Under one roof" and the Premonstratensians from Tepl organized an anniversary pilgrimage to Maria Stock. Bishop Tomáš Holub from Pilsen took part in the service. The choir of the St. Vitus Cathedral in Prague was responsible for the musical design. In 2018 helpers drained the swamp that had formed under the church. In addition, the cemetery, where there are still a few German gravestones, was cleared of undergrowth by a youth group.

Furnishing

inner space
Gallery

The ceiling frescoes depicting the Holy Trinity and the Virgin Mary were created by the painter Karl Krattner. The altars were built around 1750. The main altar with a canopy shows a copy of the image of Mary from 1717. The side altars depict St. Joseph and St. John Nepomuk . The pulpit was decorated with a relief of the Annunciation . The pews date from the 19th century. The painted glass windows were obtained from the Mayer'sche Hofkunstanstalt in Munich. The organ was added in 1907. The furnishings also included several statues of saints from the 19th century, as well as reliquaries from the second half of the 18th century. Two bells were melted down from the three-part peal for war purposes.

Miraculous image

The image of Mary was commissioned by the church donor Johann Adam Lienert in 1717. It comes from the painter Johann Wolfgang Richter from Theusing , who needed 8 days for the work and received 9 guilders. It is a copy of the miraculous image of Mariahilf ob Passau and had a rectangular format before it got its current frame. After it was solemnly moved to the new church on July 9, 1740, special hinges were installed that made it possible to move it during masses. The portrait was therefore also called "Virgin Mary jumping". For easier access to the picture, there was a handrail on the wall and a staircase underneath, which also served as an altar treasury. The original painting is now kept in the monastery chapel of the Premonstratensian monastery in Tepl .

Surroundings

To the southeast of Skoky is a 19th century Lady Chapel. In the former cemetery on the northeastern edge of the village, a few German gravestones have survived. The former pilgrim restaurant “Schopf” is one of the few buildings still in existence in Skoky.

literature

  • Benedikt Brandl: On the history of the pilgrimage church and parish Maria Stock near Luditz, self-published, 1925.
  • Place of pilgrimage Maria-Stock, Luditz district, Egerland. In: Publication series on local history of the Luditz district, Sudetenland, issue 1, self-published, Kronberg im Taunus 1967.
  • Jiří Schierl: 300 years of pilgrimage Maria Stock - a historical look back. In: Der Grenzgänger, issue 67, October / November 2017,

Web links

Commons : Church of the Visitation of Our Lady (Skoky)  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Johann Gottfried Sommer: The Kingdom of Bohemia, presented statistically and topographically: Bd. Elbogner Kreis. 1847 . JG Calve, 1847 ( google.de [accessed April 20, 2020]).
  2. ↑ Skoky u Žlutic - Maria Stock - German - The story of Maria Stock. Retrieved April 19, 2020 .
  3. ↑ Jaroslav Vyčichlo: Skoky - poutní kostel Panny Marie Navštívení | Památky a příroda Karlovarska. Retrieved April 19, 2020 .
  4. ^ Ackermann parish: Maria Stock / Skoky. Retrieved April 19, 2020 .
  5. ↑ Marianum: Legend of the dear holy and godly servants of Our Lady and the most famous places of grace of the high Queen of Heaven: with 1 title steel engravings, allegorical title and many beautiful pictures in fine wood engraving. ¬The months of July to December . Pustet, 1867 ( google.de [accessed April 19, 2020]).
  6. ↑ New life in Maria Stock. Retrieved April 19, 2020 .
  7. ^ The pilgrimage church of the Visitation of the Virgin Mary in Maria Stock near Luditz | Rediscovered treasures in the Sudetenland. Retrieved April 19, 2020 .
  8. ^ German genealogy: Sudetenland, Parish Books, Mariastock, Luditz. Retrieved April 19, 2020 .
  9. ↑ Skoky pilgrimage site (Mariastock) | Living Land. Retrieved April 19, 2020 (Czech).
  10. ↑ Czech film “Maria Stock” receives Cottbus Discovery Award. Retrieved April 19, 2020 .
  11. ↑ 300 years of Maria Stock - German Boehmen. Retrieved April 19, 2020 .

Coordinates: 50 ° 5 '46.9 "  N , 13 ° 5' 49.6"  E