Church of Saint Maurice (Kroměříž): A Gothic Collegiate Parish Church in Czechia
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.8
- Popularity
- Low
- Country
- Czechia
- Primary era
- Medieval
- External website
- Open
- Eras represented
- Medieval, Early Modern
- Civilizations
- Holy Roman Empire, Kingdom of Bohemia, Margraviate of Moravia
- Site type
- Religious
- Remains
- Church
On this page8 sections
History
The Church of Saint Maurice is a Roman Catholic parish church in Kroměříž, Czechia, founded in the thirteenth century in the Gothic tradition. Construction is dated to 1265, with completion placed around 1290. The church belongs to the Moravian ecclesiastical province, within the Archdiocese of Olomouc and the Kroměříž deanery, and serves as the seat of the Collegiate Chapter of Saint Maurice.
Foundation and Collegiate Chapter
Bruno of Schauenburg, the thirteenth-century bishop of Olomouc and founder of Kroměříž, established the church and its collegiate chapter. The chapter comprised six canons, a provost, and a dean. Bruno chose the dedication to Saint Maurice in reference to the Church of Saint Maurice in Magdeburg, where he had previously served as provost. He was buried in the church’s presbytery.
Rebuilding and Nineteenth-Century Restoration
The church required major repairs and rebuilding after both the Hussite Wars, a series of fifteenth-century religious and political conflicts in Bohemia and Moravia, and the Thirty Years’ War, the European conflict that lasted from 1618 to 1648. Several fires further damaged the building, making the extent of its surviving medieval fabric uncertain.
Archbishop Sommerau-Beckh directed a major nineteenth-century reconstruction that repaired the church and restored its Gothic appearance. A cast-iron memorial plaque above the portal commemorates the restoration carried out after the great fire of 1836. The church has been protected as a cultural monument since 1973.
Pilgrimage and Parish Use
A pilgrimage tradition connected with the Chapel of the Seven Sorrows of the Virgin Mary is recorded from 1887. On the Friday of Sorrows, pilgrims came to Kroměříž from places including Prostějov, Polešovice, Vracov, Napajedla, Holešov, and Bystřice pod Hostýnem. Since 2011, the church has hosted annual Pilgrimage Days on that day as a nationwide gathering associated with pilgrimage to the chapel.
The parish office once occupied a canon’s house on Stojanovo Square before moving to the provostry in the adjoining parish garden. Archbishop Stojan served as the church’s provost from 1908 to 1917.
Remains
The church stands on Stojanovo Square, west of Velké Square. Its principal structure is a masonry, oriented three-aisled hall with an approximately 30-degree deviation. The complex of the Archbishop’s Grammar School adjoins the church on the north. A connection through Mill Gate leads to the Archbishop’s Palace, enabling the bishop to pass between the palace and the church without going outdoors.
Chapels and Memorials
A baptismal chapel adjoins the main hall. The eastern side of the church contains a cardinal’s cenotaph, a memorial monument in the form of an empty tomb. In accordance with the cardinal’s wishes, his actual burial place is in the baptismal chapel.
The Baroque Chapel of the Seven Sorrows of the Virgin Mary contains monumental tombs for Bishops Schrattenbach and Egkh. Schrattenbach commissioned the chapel as his intended burial place. Beside a side entrance stands a bust of Archbishop Stojan, who was the church’s provost during the early twentieth century.
Altar, Organ, and Interior Furnishings
The main altar has a retable, an ornamental structure behind the altar, containing Anton Petter’s painting Saint Maurice in the Theban Legion. The Theban Legion is a Christian martyr tradition concerning a Roman military unit traditionally said to have been led by Saint Maurice. In Petter’s painting, Saint Maurice is depicted as a white man.
The furnishings include seven confessionals and a five-part organ case made in 1854 by the Viennese master Jakob Deutchmann.
Saint John of Nepomuk Column
A column carrying a statue of Saint John of Nepomuk stood in front of the church for many years. Made in 1704, it was returned after restoration in 1998 to the bridge over the Morava River, approximately 100 metres from its original position.
