Church of Saint Michael, Gothic church in Horní Záhoří, Czech Republic.
The Church of Saint Michael is a single-nave stone building of rough-hewn granite, oriented with a rectangular presbytery and a sacristy on its north side. A baroque gable tops the west facade, and an octagonal lantern with a pyramidal roof rises above the presbytery. A separate square bell tower with a clock stands about five metres from the west front.
The church replaced an earlier chapel and was rebuilt in that form in 1352, when it was enclosed by a wall as a fortified church. It was demolished during the Hussite Wars, ruined in the Thirty Years' War and restored in 1639 by Vilém of Švamberk. After a fire in 1689 it was rebuilt reusing the original Gothic masonry of the presbytery and sacristy.
The church is the parish church of the Roman Catholic parish of Záhoří and dominates Horní Záhoří. Its bells carry names and founders' marks: the largest, cast in 1706, bears a relief of Saint Michael; two bells from 1839 carry the founder's mark of Johann Adalbert Perner of Budweis. A fourth clock face was added to the bell tower in 2019.
The building sits in a rural village and is easy to spot from outside. Visitors should expect simple road conditions and explore the area best during daylight hours.
The tin baptismal font, 27 cm high and 32 cm wide, dates from 1755 and is often passed by unnoticed. The bell tower holds a bell cast in 1706 with a relief of Saint Michael, plus bells by Johann Adalbert Perner of Budweis dated 1839. A fourth clock face was added to the tower in 2019.
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