Church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary in Hořice, Baroque church in Hořice, Czech Republic.
The Church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary is a baroque cross-shaped building with a rectangular tower on the north side, topped by an octagonal onion dome. The main nave measures 38 metres long, 24 metres wide and 16.5 metres high, and the transept 24 by 8 metres. A second tower planned for the facade was never built, and an 8-metre Madonna statue by Václav Suchomel from 1926 stands in the gable.
The original Gothic single-nave church from the 13th century was destroyed by the town fire of 17 August 1738, which also consumed the rectory, school, town hall and hospital and killed five people. Kilian Ignaz Dientzenhofer drew up plans for a new church, built in 1741–1748 at a total cost of 19,977 guilders. The tower received its onion dome with a cross on 29 October 1748. Fires in 1778 and 1838 damaged the church again, and it was repaired after 1989.
The church holds a tin baptismal font from the 16th century, the oldest object in the building, and Stations of the Cross painted in 1860 by the Hořice painter Petr Maixner. Wooden statues from the 18th and 19th centuries are mostly by Antonín Sucharda of Nová Paka, and ceiling frescoes from the late 19th century are by Ludvík Nejedlý of Nový Bydžov.
The church stands 100 metres south of Jiřího z Poděbrad square in central Hořice. Mass is held on Sunday at 9:00, Tuesday and Thursday at 12:00, Wednesday and Friday at 18:00, and Saturday at 8:00. Outside services it is used for concerts of sacred and organ music.
The church holds a tin baptismal font from the 16th century, its oldest surviving piece, predating the 1738 fire that melted the bells. Five smooth tomb slabs set into the floor cover crypt openings holding members of the local nobility. The facade Madonna, 8 metres tall, was carved by Václav Suchomel in 1926.
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