Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, Romanesque-origin parish church in Neustupov, Czech Republic
The Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary has a Romanesque core, but its present form comes from a Renaissance rebuilding and purist alterations of the 1920s. It has a rectangular plan with a prismatic tower on the west and a semicircular apse closing the nave on the east; a two-part annex on the north side includes the sacristy. The main entrance is in the south wall of the nave, set in an early Gothic portal.
The church is documented from the 1280s in a formulary collection of Bishop Tobiáš of Bechyně, when patronage was probably held by the Vyšehrad chapter. From the 1450s to 1620 the village belonged to the Vidlák of Slavkov and Kaplíř of Sulevice families, who used the church as their burial place. During the Thirty Years' War it was looted and coffins were opened in search of rings; the remains were placed in a shaft near the tower. The present form results from a Renaissance rebuilding and purist work of the 1920s.
The church stands beside the former Neustupov fortress, later rebuilt as a chateau, and served its owners as a family tomb. From 1545 to 1618 members of the Vidlák of Slavkov and Kaplíř of Sulevice families were buried here, and their identified tombstones remain in the building. During the Thirty Years' War the church was looted and even coffins were opened by soldiers searching for rings and other precious-metal objects.
The main entrance is in the south wall of the nave, framed by an early Gothic portal from the second building phase. The west tower's original first-floor north doorway was walled up in the 19th century, when access shifted to a ground-floor west entrance with a ladder to the upper floors. Two doorways from the nave into the tower are also blocked.
During the Thirty Years' War the church was looted and even coffins were opened by soldiers searching for rings and other precious-metal objects. The remains were placed by Jan de Areyzaga, then owner of the estate, in a shaft near the tower.
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