Church of Saints Simon and Jude in Bystřice: A Roman Catholic Parish Church
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.6
- Popularity
- Very Low
- Country
- Czechia
- Primary era
- Early Modern
- External website
- Open
- Eras represented
- Medieval, Early Modern
- Civilizations
- Habsburg, Holy Roman Empire, Kingdom of Bohemia
- Site type
- Religious
- Remains
- Church
On this page14 sections
History
Medieval foundation
The Church of Saints Simon and Jude in Bystřice is a Roman Catholic parish church in Czechia, probably founded around 1352, when Bystřice was first mentioned in writing. Its early patrons were the Lords of Dubá. Saints Simon and Jude, two of the Twelve Apostles, have traditionally been commemorated together in the Western Christian calendar, and their dedication gives the church its name.
Destruction and Baroque rebuilding
On 7 March 1645, following the nearby Battle of Jankov, Swedish troops plundered and burned Bystřice. The church was among the buildings destroyed or damaged in the attack. In 1666, its patron Josef Priam of Rovoratu paid for a thorough repair and remodeling in the Baroque style, a period style associated with seventeenth- and eighteenth-century architecture. The nave was added during this rebuilding.
Fires, repair, and nineteenth-century patronage
A fire that struck Bystřice in 1813 damaged the roof of the church tower. One bell melted in the blaze, while the other four apparently survived undamaged. A general repair followed in 1899 at the expense of Vincenc Daněk, a nobleman of Esse who lived at the nearby Líšno château and had substantially remodeled it. The cemetery that had formerly surrounded the church was abolished during this work.
Daněk also donated three stained-glass windows. One was a patterned window commemorating the twenty-fifth anniversary of the priesthood of Emanuel Lašťovka, then the parish priest of Bystřice. The other two were figural windows showing Saint Vincent, Daněk’s patron saint, and Saint Elizabeth, the patron saint of his wife.
Ecclesiastical status and later history
The church entered the register of cultural monuments in 1958. It belongs to the Czech Province and the Diocese of Prague, a territory governed by a bishop, through the Benešov Vicariate, a diocesan subdivision, and the parish of Bystřice u Benešova. Until approximately the third quarter of the twentieth century, the interior contained a patronal pew, a reserved seat for the church’s patron or patron family, elaborately carved with the coats of arms of its patrons. The pew was later moved to the Church of the Finding of the Holy Cross in nearby Nesvačily. The church was last repaired in 2009.
Remains
Building and exterior
Church plan and tower
The church is a single-nave rectangular building with an originally Gothic structure that was rebuilt in the Baroque style. Its presbytery, the part reserved for the altar and clergy, is closed on three sides, a form commonly used in medieval churches. A vestibule provides the entrance through the west façade. On the north side stands a prism-shaped tower, a solid geometric vertical structure whose upper section has pilasters, shallow wall projections shaped like simplified columns, at its corners.
Façade mosaic
A mosaic of Christ the Good Shepherd, made by Antonín Klouda in the 1970s, is set into the church façade. It forms a later artistic addition to the exterior of the older church.
Interior architecture and furnishings
Nave and galleries
The nave is covered by a flattened cross vault, formed by the intersection of two barrel vaults, without projecting ribs. Narrow galleries run along both sides of the nave. The spaces beneath them are vaulted into shallow niches, giving the interior a series of recessed areas along the side walls.
Altars and statues
The main altar is Neo-Gothic, a nineteenth-century revival of medieval Gothic forms, and carries an altar painting made by J. Zapletal in 1875. A side altar to the left of the entrance when facing the main altar is dedicated to Saint Peter and bears a statue of the apostle. The corresponding altar on the opposite side carries a statue of Saint Paul. Both figures are believed to have been transferred from another church because they are considerably larger than the other statues in the building.
Other statues depict the Virgin Mary, Saint George, Saint Wenceslaus, Saint John of Nepomuk, and the Sacred Heart of Jesus. The Sacred Heart statue stands above the baptismal font. Beneath the gallery are Rococo mirror candleholders, whose decorative form belongs to the eighteenth-century Rococo style.
Heraldic decoration
Above the arch separating the presbytery from the nave are two coats of arms. On the left is the coat of arms of the Lords of Dubá, dated 1258. On the right is the coat of arms of the Daněk family of Esse, dated 1872. Together, these heraldic elements associate the interior with two families connected with the church’s patronage.
Tower bells
Two bells hang in the tower. One was cast in 1553 by Matěj Špice Slepý. Its inscription dedicates the bell to God, the Virgin Mary, the heavenly host, Saints Simon and Jude, and the congregation of Bystřice. The outer surface also bears the Sternberg family coat of arms and the name Voldřich Hollický of Sternberg.
The second bell probably dates from the fifteenth century. It bears a Gothic inscription that has not been deciphered.
