Buquoy Vault, Gothic Revival chapel and tomb in Nové Hrady, Czech Republic.
The Buquoy Vault is a Neo-Gothic tomb chapel built in 1902–1904 to Josef Schulz's design at the eastern end of Nové Hrady's cemetery. It has a cross-shaped plan with a crypt at ground level and a chapel above, reached by a two-arm staircase, plus a five-sided presbytery and a spiral stair to the bell tower. Walls are exposed brick, ornament is sandstone, and the base and column shafts are granite.
The Buquoy family acquired Nové Hrady, Rožmberk and Libějovice in 1620, when Emperor Ferdinand II granted the confiscated estates to General Karel Bonaventura Buquoy after the Battle of White Mountain. The Neo-Gothic vault was built in 1902–1904 on the third Nové Hrady cemetery, founded in 1810, to designs by architect Josef Schulz and executed by builder Karel Bůžek for Count Karel Bonaventura Buquoy-Longueval.
Above the lower portal a sandstone relief shows the Buquoy coat of arms held by two griffins, with the French motto DIEU ET MON ROI (God and my king). The gilded mosaic over the chapel entrance depicts the Virgin Mary of Záblatí, crowned by two angels and standing on a crescent, with the Buquoy and Rogendorf arms beneath her.
The vault stands at the eastern end of the cemetery on Vitorazská street, the town's third cemetery, founded in 1810. It opens to visitors only within guided city tours, so arrange a time through the Nové Hrady tourist information office before travelling. The funeral hall in the ground-floor crypt is still used for ceremonies.
The mosaic above the chapel entrance is widely misattributed to Max Švabinský; it was made by Munich artist Luigi Solerti after the Virgin Mary of Záblatí, a painting kept since the late 17th century in the church of Sts Peter and Paul in Nové Hrady. The image was brought by Karel Bonaventura Buquoy from the 1619 battle of Záblatí.
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