Bell tower in Skřivany, Bell tower and cultural monument in Skřivany, Czech Republic.
The bell tower in Skřivany is a wooden polygonal structure with a mixed frame: a six-sided braced base carries a four-sided bell stage on posts, a form found nowhere else in Bohemia. Its lower level and bell stage are clad in vertical boards, the roofs are shingled, and a pyramidal roof topped with a finial and cross closes the tower. A road separates it from the church of Saint Anne.
The bell tower was built around 1720 together with the church of Saint Anne. The 1841 stable cadastre shows a square structure near the church's southeast corner, so the present form is later; the polygonal tower is documented on a cadastral map of 1923, and some sources link its move to the 1905 fire of the nearby sugar factory (brewery). It has been a cultural monument since 1958 and was listed in 1964.
The tower stands across the road from the church of Saint Anne, which it originally accompanied when both were built around 1720. A stone in the tower's steps is said to have been moved from an older bell structure that once stood before the church facade.
The bell tower stands beside the Skřivany chateau, separated from the church of Saint Anne by the road. It can be viewed from the outside only; the surrounding village centre is easily covered on foot.
The tower's mixed timber frame is unique in Bohemia: the four-sided bell chamber sits on a load-bearing braced structure with a hexagonal plan. The older bell, cast in 1695, hung here until it was stolen on the night of 25 March 2000; a new bell was installed in 2004, when the whole tower was replaced by a replica.
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