Zelená Hora pilgrimage church

Zelená Hora pilgrimage church, aerial view (2018)

Entire facility

The pilgrimage church of St. John of Nepomuk in Zelená Hora , Czech: Poutní kostel sv. Jana Nepomuckého na Zelené hoře , is a pilgrimage church near Žďár nad Sázavou in the Czech Republic . It is a national cultural monument and has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1994 .

history

In order to promote further veneration of St. John of Nepomuk , the building was built in the years 1719–1722 at the instigation of the abbot of the Saar Cistercian monastery , Václav Vejmluva. The hill on which the pilgrimage church was built was initially called Černý les ( Black Forest ) or Strmá hora ( Steep Mountain ). Later it was renamed "Zelená hora" ( Green Mountain ) after the place from which St. Nepomuk came (cf. Zelená hora (Nepomuk) ) and from where the first monks came to Žďár nad Sázavou . In order to make the church visible from afar, the dense pine forest on the hill was cleared. In 1784 the church burned down. After that it was used as a sheepfold for a short time, then it should be demolished. But the believers resisted and the church was rebuilt.

architecture

The complex, built according to plans by the architect Johann Blasius Santini-Aichl , combines Gothic and Baroque style elements, creating a style that has no analogy anywhere in Europe.

The church as the center of the complex and the outer ring were planned and built as a unit. The construction of the church arose from the basic shape of the circle, with the number five being repeated several times as an allusion to the five stars that, according to legend, surrounded the body of the martyr when he was found. So alternate z. B. in the enclosure of the church five chapels with a triangular floor plan with five chapels in the form of an oval, and there are five entrances to the complex.

The central building is vaulted by a dome with lunettes supported by ten pillars. Inside the church there are smaller oval side chapels and galleries on the first floor, which correspond to the chapels below. Another passage runs above the galleries.

Furnishing

Vault

The main and high altars are in the eastern arcade and extend to the railing of the second gallery. The five angels on the main altar and the four evangelists are the work of the sculptor Johann Paul Czechpauer . After his death around 1726, they were completed by his colleague Ignaz Rohrbach . Three of these angels carry a ball, which symbolizes the vault of heaven, and which in turn is adorned with five stars. A statue of St. Nepomuk, made by Gregor Thény , stands on this sphere . The choice of artists from the environment of the sculptor Matthias Bernhard Braun - Thény was once a journeyman at Braun - is not accidental. Santini often worked with Braun and appreciated his imagery.

After the fire, the church was re-equipped with inventory from neighboring churches in 1787. The pulpit and a side altar come from the Church of the Visitation of the Virgin Mary in Obyčtov , the organ and the confessional from the Church of St. Wenceslas in Radešínská Svratka .