Church of Holy Trinity, Gothic church in Mělník, Czech Republic.
The Church of the Holy Trinity in Mělník is a single-nave pilgrimage church in the Chloumek district, with a rectangular nave covered by a barrel vault and a three-sided presbytery with a sacristy on the north side. A vestibule with a volute gable stands before the west facade, and the church is surrounded on three sides by 17th-century ambits.
The Church of the Holy Trinity was probably built in Gothic style in the second half of the 15th century. It was rebuilt in 1588, 1605, 1718 and 1765, so its present form is Baroque. In the 1970s it was converted into a funeral hall despite protests from the church, conservationists and the public.
The church's name comes from its dedication to the Holy Trinity, and Trinity pilgrimages were held here from the 16th century until the 1950s; the tradition was renewed in 2005. The northern ambulatory chapel, once dedicated to St. Gothard, now serves as a mortuary, while the southern chapel of the Virgin Mary is a waiting room for the bereaved.
The church stands in Chloumek, a separate part of Mělník, so allow extra time to reach it beyond the town centre. The ambits around it serve as the cemetery, with the former St Gothard chapel now a mortuary and the Virgin Mary chapel a waiting room for mourners. The church itself was converted into a funeral hall in the 1970s.
In the southern ambulatory beside the church is the grave of Jindřich Matiegka, an anthropologist and physician who was rector of Charles University. The north ambulatory chapel, once dedicated to St. Gothard, now serves as a mortuary, and the south chapel to the Virgin Mary as a waiting room for the bereaved.
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