Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, Gothic church in Chomutov, Czech Republic
The Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary is a Gothic building in Chomutov with a triple nave, a presbytery, a sacristy, the Chapel of St. Anthony, the Baptismal Chapel, a prismatic city tower, and a two-storey northern vestibule. The nave is divided by two rows of octagonal pillars and vaulted with a net vault; the early Renaissance western gallery from 1542 rests on three columns.
A parish church is first documented in 1330, when Pope John XXII confirmed a benefice for rector Konrád Hrdoně; masonry of the chancel and sacristy survives from that period. In 1516 the lords of Veitmile began a rebuild under stonemason Josef Schreml, with the nave vaulted by Jakub Hans in 1539. After a fire in 1598 and Swedish damage in 1639 and 1643, the church was closed as unsafe in 1899 and reopened on 15 August 1915 after reconstruction to plans by architect Gerstl.
The church is the dean's church of the Chomutov parish, and its south tribune bears the coat of arms of Bohuslav Jáchym Hasištejnský of Lobkovic and Anna of Redern, added in 1585. The west gallery vault shows the Chomutov town coat of arms with the date 1605, when the town became a royal town, alongside the arms of the lords of Veitmile. The parapet holds paintings of the Fourteen Holy Helpers on sheet metal by J. B. Sternenfels from 1875.
The church stands on the northwest side of Náměstí 1. Máje, with the deanery and old town school to its west and the Church of St. Catherine opposite. The tower was fully reconstructed in 1984–1989, and the statue of St. Florian at its base was moved from the water reservoir in front of the Church of St. Ignatius. The building awaits partial repairs, so some areas may be off-limits.
The ground floor of the city tower holds a cell vault on stone corbels forming an eight-pointed star pattern; a spiral staircase in the porch corner is vaulted the same way. Both are attributed to the church's builder, Josef Schreml, and the same element appears on house no. 9 on Náměstí 1. Máje.
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