Church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary, Gothic church in Chroboly, Czech Republic.
The Church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary is a single-nave oriented building with a narrower, three-sided presbytery and a prismatic tower set into the southwest corner. The nave, 10.63 m wide and 15.65 m long, is vaulted with barrel vaults and lunettes; a gallery on two masonry pillars stands at the west end, reached by a spiral stair in the tower. The presbytery is 9.86 m deep and 5.72 m wide, with the sacristy on its south side and a corridor to the pulpit on the north.
The parish church of Chroboly was first documented in 1360. Between 1754 and 1758 the Gothic building was rebuilt in Baroque style, enlarged and heightened, with larger windows and the wooden choir loft removed; its pyramid roof became an onion dome designed by the builder J. F. Fortin. The original north sacristy was demolished in 1892, leaving only a corridor to the pulpit, and the former mortuary on the south side took over as sacristy. Since 1 January 2020 it has been a filial church of the Prachatice parish.
The church was a parish church until 1 January 2020, when it became a filial church of the Prachatice parish. Its furnishings are Rococo, and the main altar holds a late-Gothic statue of the Madonna. In the chancel stand side altars to Saint Anne and Saint John of Nepomuk; the nave has altars to Saint Linhart and Saint Joseph.
The church stands in the middle of the cemetery, which is enclosed by a wall with a mortuary; the entrance to the cemetery is on the left of which stands the sculptural group of St John of Nepomuk from the second half of the 18th century. The interior can be viewed outside services, but ask locally beforehand.
The church became a filial church of the Prachatice parish on 1 January 2020, after having been the parish church of Chroboly. Its Gothic core survives in the perimeter masonry, together with a stone sanctuary with an iron grille behind the main altar, a granite baptismal font and a carved stone portal jamb.
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