Church of Our Lady of the Snow, Catholic church in Provodov, Czech Republic.
The Church of Our Lady of the Snow is a single-nave Baroque pilgrimage church in Provodov, built on a rectangular plan with a rounded apse and a small bell tower above the west facade. It measures 19 m long, 9 m wide and 8 m high, with a triangular gable niche holding a statue of the Virgin Mary.
Count Wolfgang Serényi of the Luhačovice estate had a wooden chapel built by the Malenisko spring after his recovery, then in 1734 a brick single-nave Baroque church with a three-sided apse, consecrated on 5 August 1735. Growing pilgrim numbers led to its rebuilding as a small church in 1750, and the nave was extended in 1850. A general repair followed in 1985–1988.
The pilgrimage site is tied to the Malenisko spring, whose water was credited with healing Count Wolfgang Serényi, who had a wooden chapel built here in thanks. The main altar holds a painting of the nursing Virgin Mary brought from Vienna in 1710, blessed by Pope John Paul II in Prague in 1997. A 30 kg bell from 1734, decorated with reliefs of St Joseph and St Wenceslas, hangs in the tower.
The main stairway to the church has 52 steps and was built in 1925; a side stairway leads to the outdoor altar on the terrace. The spring chapel of 1865 with the Svatá voda well stands near the altar and is reached down a few steps. The parish house below the main stairway dates from 1761.
The 30 kg bell in the tower dates from 1734 and bears reliefs of Saint Joseph and Saint Wenceslas. It was requisitioned during World War II, later found in Prague and returned. A second 45 kg bell was cast by Jan Alois Obletter in 1803.
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