Church of Saint James the Greater, Gothic and Baroque church in Nepomuk, Czech Republic.
The Church of Saint James the Greater is a Gothic basilica with a nave and two lower side aisles, a polygonal presbytery with six buttresses, and a sacristy on the north side. A separate Baroque bell tower with pilasters and an onion dome stands east of the church.
A church existed here by the 12th century, built by Cistercian monks from the nearby Pomuk monastery. It was rebuilt in Gothic style between 1290 and 1295, and in 1360–1370 the older nave was replaced by a basilican three-aisle layout. After a fire in 1746 and dissolution in 1786, it was restored in Neo-Gothic style in 1857–1859 and re-consecrated on 19 May 1860.
The church is dedicated to Saint James the Greater, not to John of Nepomuk, whose own church stands nearby and took over the deanery in 1786. The former cemetery around the church was used until 1860, when it was replaced by the Saint Procopius cemetery founded in 1855 on a rocky hill southeast of town; the Sternberg family had a tomb in the church.
The building sits centrally in town and is easy to reach on foot, visible from the outside at any time. Visitors should be respectful upon entry, especially if services or events are taking place.
The church doubled as a fortified refuge: a massive perimeter wall, probably a moat, and a semicircular corner bastion with a loophole on the steep west side survive, and one of the northern bastion-like structures once served as an ossuary.
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