Church of Saint Bartholomew in Mochov, Gothic-Baroque church in Mochov, Czech Republic.
The Church of Saint Bartholomew in Mochov is a single-nave rectangular Gothic building with a flat ceiling and a polygonal presbytery, standing on a partly artificial conical hill about 200 m above sea level in the middle of a disused cemetery. A separate plastered bell tower stands south of the nave, linked only by a passage, and a two-armed patriarchal cross tops the roof. The walls are unplastered, with a small ossuary filled in in 1935.
A chapel dedicated to Saint Margaret stood on the hill before Pešek Nymburský had it rebuilt as a Gothic church of Saint Bartholomew in the 14th century; its south wall was demolished for the new presbytery, and the chapel became the sacristy. Utraquist priests served here until 1620, after which the parish was expelled and the building decayed until local parishioners saved it. In 1917 the walls were tied with steel anchors and in 1918 the church was underpinned.
The church has been a pilgrimage and parish centre since the 14th century; in the 15th century Mochov's inhabitants adopted Utraquism, and until the first half of the 17th century priests administered communion under both kinds here. After the Battle of White Mountain in 1620 the priest was expelled, and the building's survival is credited to the initiative of local parishioners. Today both Roman Catholic and Orthodox services are held.
The building is accessible to visitors during religious services, and it is best to check times locally upon arrival. The location is easily reached on foot from the village center.
The church walls have been left unplastered since repairs in 1918, when the cracked masonry was underpinned and the old render knocked off; only the bell tower kept its plaster. A small charnel house stood by the west end until it was filled in in 1935.
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