Church of the Finding of the True Cross, Baroque church in Znojmo, Czech Republic

The Church of the Finding of the True Cross is a single-nave Baroque church with side chapels, built into the Dominican monastery complex. Its furnishings date mainly from the 17th and 18th centuries, including a pulpit with a sculptural group of St Dominic sending his friars into the world, attributed to Josef Winterhalder the Elder.

Founded around 1230 with the Dominican monastery, reportedly through the intercession of Saint Hyacinth, the church became a pilgrimage site holding a large fragment of the Holy Cross visited by pilgrims from Austria and Hungary. A fire in 1555 destroyed the monastery library and archive and the relic was lost; repairs dragged on until 1580, when Emperor Rudolf II donated funds for the roof. In 1950 the Dominicans were removed and army border guards used the monastery as barracks until 1960.

The church is still used for worship, and Czech sermons were already held in the chapter hall after the 1555 fire, which gave it the name Czech Chapel. In the 18th century devotion grew around the local miraculous Marian image, and for the Holy Year of Mercy 2015/16 a Holy Door was installed.

The church stands in Znojmo's old town, near the Dominican monastery it was built with; the entrance faces the street and the interior is entered from the nave. The building is a single nave with side chapels, so a visit follows one continuous route past the chapels and the high altar. Look for the Holy Door set up for the 2015/16 Holy Year of Mercy.

The church's most prized relic, a large fragment of the Holy Cross that drew pilgrims from Austria and Hungary, vanished in the fire of 1555 and was never recovered. Devotion then shifted to the Marian image, and in the 18th century a canopy altar of the Virgin of Znojmo was carved by Jan Josef Resler after a design by František Roettiers.