Protestant church in Třebenice, Art Nouveau Protestant church in Třebenice, Czech Republic.
The Protestant church in Třebenice is a style-mixed building with Art Nouveau overtones, built as a hall church with a projecting west tower and a rectangular vaulted chancel. Its interior is defined by an open roof truss, and the tracery forms deliberately borrow from Saxon late Gothic of around 1510. It has served as the Museum of Bohemian Garnet since 1959.
Architect August Hugo Grothe completed this church in 1902, bringing Art Nouveau style to Protestant architecture in Central Europe. The building appeared at a moment when religious structures were beginning to embrace decorative modern movements.
The building no longer serves worship: it was profaned after the Second World War and since 1959 has housed the Museum of Bohemian Garnet. The exhibition covers the history of the Czech garnet, the red pyrope found in the nearby České středohoří hills. The former church interior, with its open roof truss, now displays mineral specimens and jewellery.
The former church stands on elevated ground above the town, with a west tower set in front of the nave and a rectangular vaulted chancel behind it. Since 1959 it has housed the Museum of Bohemian Garnet, so the interior is arranged as exhibition space rather than for worship. It has been listed as a cultural monument since 18 September 2020.
The church was financed largely by the Gustav-Adolf-Verein, a Protestant aid society, and the builder Grus from Lovosice carried out the work. Its tracery deliberately copies Saxon late Gothic forms of around 1510, so a building of 1902 looks back to pre-Reformation models.
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