Church of Saint Lawrence, Gothic church in Brno-Komín, Czech Republic.
The Church of Saint Lawrence is a single-nave church with a polygonal, rib-vaulted presbytery that survives from the 1324 building; its pointed windows have no tracery. A massive square tower about 45 m high, with four vaulted storeys and slit windows, was added to the west facade around 1500. The tower's lower storey, once a storage room, served as the Holy Sepulchre chapel from 1802.
Eliška Rejčka funded the church's construction and had parish rights transferred from the Old Brno church; a founding charter dated 22 April 1324 records this, and consecration likely followed in September 1324 under Bishop Konrád. A tower with a bell inscribed 1502 was added to the west facade, and in 1883–1884 August Prokop and builder Eduard Svoboda rebuilt the church in a historicist style for 4,081 gulden.
The church's dedication feast was moved in 1514 by Bishop Stanislav Thurzo to the Sunday after St. Martin's Day. A horseshoe on the door to the square tower recalls Swedish troops under Lennart Torstensson, who stabled horses in the church during the siege of Brno in 1646.
The building sits in a neighborhood accessible by public bus from central Brno. Visitors should plan daytime visits when doors are unlocked and natural light streams through the windows to show the interior details.
A horseshoe is fixed to the door leading into the massive tower, recalling 1646, when Swedish troops under Lennart Torstensson occupied the church during the siege of Brno and stabled their horses inside; the parish register of priest Theodosius Labucký records the event.
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