Church of the Visitation, Gothic Revival church in Poštorná, Czech Republic.
The Church of the Visitation is a neo-Gothic church built in 1895–1898 to a design by Karl Weinbrenner, modelled on Vienna's Church of Maria vom Siege by Friedrich Schmidt. Its main facade faces the Břeclav road, so the chancel points southwest. A 50.7-metre-high dome on an octagonal drum, topped by a lantern shaped like a crown, dominates the building, and above the portal stands Josef Beyer's statue of Christ blessing.
The foundation stone was laid on 24 June 1895, and the church was consecrated on 3 July 1898 by Vienna bishop Dr. J. Schneider in the presence of the Liechtenstein princely family. It replaced a church built in 1339, which had deteriorated and was too small after Poštorná's growth. Prince Jan II of Liechtenstein supported the project, and architect Karl Weinbrenner modelled it on Vienna's Church of Maria vom Siege by Friedrich Schmidt.
The church is the parish church of Břeclav-Poštorná, built on the initiative of the residents of Poštorná and settlers from the affiliated Charvátská Nová Ves, with the support of Prince Jan II of Liechtenstein. The parish of Poštorná is documented from 1570, when it also included nearby Hlohovec; for a time its priests also administered the church in Břeclav, although Poštorná belonged to Lower Austria until 1920 while Břeclav lay in Moravia.
The building sits in the village center and is easy to reach from the main roads. Visitors can walk around both outside and inside to see the architectural details and interior spaces.
The church was built from material produced by the local princely brickworks, using some 200 types of bricks, tiles, mouldings and glazed ceramic roofing. The dome is topped by a lantern shaped like a crown, and the high altar is said to be provisional: legend holds that a Hungarian fled with its plans.
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