Church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary in Popovice, Romanesque church in Popovice, Czech Republic.
The Church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary in Popovice is an early Baroque church oriented to the southeast. Its rectangular nave connects to a polygonal presbytery with a lean-to sacristy, and the saddle roof carries a small lantern bell turret with a single bell. The church has no tower; the facade is divided by pilasters and coloured pilaster strips, and the portal bears the monograms IHS and MARIA.
The first written mention dates from 1654, probably referring to a Chapel of St. Anne on the site of the later parish house built in 1784. The Jesuits found the chapel unsuitable and had a new church built between 1663 and 1670; it was completed and consecrated in 1671. A stone staircase formed the main approach, and it was restored in the first half of 2014. The church was listed as a cultural monument of the Czech Republic on 18 February 1964.
The church is known for hosting Christmas concerts and other musical performances, though no regular services are held. Its furnishings came from elsewhere: two side altars and six Stations of the Cross paintings from the dissolved Valdice monastery, and a 1770 organ brought from Jičín's Church of St. Ignatius, enlarged in 1848 and restored in 1979.
No regular services are held here, so visits depend on concerts and other events; the church is known for Christmas concerts and musical performances. Access is via the stone staircase on the main approach, rebuilt in the first half of 2014.
The church has no tower: its single bell hangs in a small lantern turret above the polygonal presbytery. The facade niches between four pilasters once held statues of saints, and the stone portal carries a cartouche with the monograms IHS and MARIA beneath an angel's head.
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