Church in Blatná
The Church of the Assumption is a Roman Catholic temple. It belongs to the parish Blatná, which is under the vicarage of Strakonice and diocese of České Budějovice. The Gothic temple was built in 1444–1515 on the site of the original Romanesque church. In front of the church stands a separate bell tower, originally Baroque from 1723, restored in the Neo-Gothic style after a fire.
History
The original Romanesque church was founded around 1290 and the vicarage was added a bit later. The Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary in Blatná was built by the family of Lev of Rožmitál in 1444 to 1515 in Gothic style. It was built on the site of the original Romanesque church founded by Bavor family of Strakonice at the end of the 13th century. The upper part was completed in 1444 under Jaroslav Lev of Rožmitál. Then, at the time of his son Zdeněk, Master Staněk added an atrial double nave. The whole church was completed in 1515 and consecrated on September 8th of the same year.
The oldest part of the church is the Romanesque sacristy preserved from the previous church.
The presbytery was added at the era of Jaroslav Lev of Rožmitál by Master Staněk and his sons in 1414–44. In 1515 the two-nave hall was vaulted with a cellar vault. Along with the atrium double nave was consecrated also the Chapel of St. Michael (later chapel of the Holy Sepulchre), which is also vaulted with a cellar vault. The facades of this chapel were rebuilt in the second half of the 18th century when the cloister arranged by Elizabeth Serényi in 1764 was added. The wooden bell tower by the church was replaced in 1723 by a brick one designed by J. Spinetti. The outside of this bell tower was adapted in a romantic Neo-Gothic reconstruction in 1835-36. It also served as a gateway to the cemetery surrounding the church. The church also features a late Gothic deanery, dating from the 15th century, which was adapted in baroque style in 1720 and rebuilt in 1834 after an extensive fire. This fire also destroyed the town hall, school, hospital and bell tower.
The church is 16 m high and 37 m long. In total, there are 9 Gothic windows with a clematis tracery in the church, divided by three rods and each window has a different tracery.
According to Lehner and Mencl, the Blatná church is Romanesque, but this theory is not supported by convincing evidence.
Architectural analysis
The sacristy of the square ground plan is curved with a ribbed vault with pear-ribs and is terminated by a concha. In the
sacristy there is a coat of arms of Mr. Bavor of Strakonice. This oldest part of the church has steel doors from 1518 with
painted decorations from 1871 set in a saddle portal leading to the presbytery.
The presbytery is vaulted by three fields of a Milevian net vault ( named after a special type of vault in the St. Giles
church in Milevsko) with a star-shaped ending from 1442 (the year is placed above the triumphal arch, where it was whitewashed
during the reconstruction of the church in the 18th century). Above the entrance to the sacristy, a shallow late Gothic oratory
was planted with a richly decorated tracery railing for the organ. It is supported by a stone ledge and brackets. The saddle
portals open onto this balcony. These portals are similar to those leading to the sacristy and to the staircase to the balcony
of the presbytery, with the tombstones in the wall of the Lev family of Rožmitál (1485) and the Serenians (16th-18th century).
The presbytery is finished with a polygonal ending with three windows. The windows are composed of 3 fields and finished with
clematis tracery. Nowadays there is a Baroque altar in the polygonal ending.
From the presbytery leads a slightly broken triumphal arch with a pear-shaped profile into the two-nave hall with four-span
shallow cellar vault, also called the diamond, which connects the four-pointed star pattern to the South Bohemian cellar vault.
It is drawn to three slender columns on the central axis of the nave and to simple flat pilasters with a head on the perimeter
wall. The vault pressure is also transmitted to the external support system. The columns lie on the main central axis, but
the tip of the triumphal arch as well as the bolts of net vault is located on the central axis of the presbytery, which does
not copy the axis of the nave and thus creates an interesting asymmetry over the triumphal arch. The columns are composed
of three parts. The head is simple, consisting of a circular abacus and plain undecorated plint, the foot has the shape of
an octagonal prism.
In the main nave there is also a three-armed vault with a shallow cellar vault. It was built at the same time as the vaulting
of the ships. The choir occupies the entire width of the double-nave. Its vault is supported by five cylindrical columns,
also with octagonal feet and with simple heads. The vault of the choir is divided into six fields, but due to the staircase
only five fields are made. The pattern of this vault is also a repeating four-pointed star with a cross connector.
The whole church is oriented to the east and the main entrance is from the west. Today, the main entrance is via the southern
vestibule, which is just as vaulted as the choir and there is also the original stone baptistery.
Interiors
The most remarkable intervention in the interior took place in the 18th century under Countess Serényi, when the church received 3 Baroque altars and a canvas on the main altar, made by the local painter Jan Hoffmann. In 1934, during the laying of the new floor, the tombstones of the Lev, Serenyi and Rozdražovský families were set into the wall. Today there is a Baroque organ on the choir.
Other parts of the church
Until 1780, there was a cemetery by the church, and in 1764 Elizabeth Serényi had a cloister with six arcades built. Furthermore, there is a chapel of St. Michael, standing at the western fence of the original cemetery, surrounding the parish church. The chapel is a polygonally closed building with an ossuary it the underground. On the southern side of the chapel there is an open 18th century cloister. The windows of this chapel are pointed with late Gothic tracery and the ceiling is vaulted by a cellar vault of three four-pointed stars with a simple connection.
Bell tower
In front of the church, there is a bell tower (originally Baroque) from 1723, also known as Blatenská tower, with the height of 45.5 metres. It burned down during the fire of the city in 1834, the largest bell of the Mother of God fell through two floors of the bell tower, dug into the ground and burst, and the remaining five bells melted with heat. After the fire the bell tower was restored in the neo-Gothic style.
source: Wikipedie
Contact
address:
Římskokatolická farnost
Na Příkopech 1
38801 Blatná
phone: +420 383 422 375
mobile: +420 733 741 618
opening hours of the office:
Monday 16.00 – 17.30
Saturday 9.00 – 10.00
web: http://www.blatna.farnost.cz/