Church of Saints Peter and Paul, Gothic church in Soběslav, Czech Republic.
The Church of Saints Peter and Paul is an early Gothic dean's church on Republic Square in Soběslav, with a single 68-metre tower topped by a 16th-century Baroque onion dome. The two-nave interior has a rare star-pattern cell vault from around 1500, supported by two slender octagonal pillars.
A foundation document records that in 1367 the Rožmberk family and Soběslav burghers funded a new church and chaplaincy, built between the 1360s and 1380s; its presbytery walls survive. In 1421 Hussite troops plundered and burned the church and toppled its tower. A new tower with the Chapel of St John the Baptist was built in 1485–1487 by Beneš of Trhové Sviny and Burian of Tábor.
The church is dedicated to the two apostles Peter and Paul, central figures in early Christian tradition who are often depicted together in religious art. You can see this pairing reflected in the interior decorations and iconography throughout the building.
The church stands on náměstí Republiky in the centre of Soběslav, with the 68-metre tower rising beside it. The former churchyard around the building was closed in 1838, so the surrounding square is open ground. The church is a protected cultural monument of the Czech Republic.
The church's tin baptismal font, made in 1501 by the smith Jan of Prague's New Town, stands on three decorated legs and is covered with inscriptions, ornaments and expressive human faces. Its survival in the church, rather than being stolen, is described as a great rarity.
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