Staré Město u Bruntálu, Bruntál dist., Moravian-Silesian Region

Medieval church of Immaculate Conception of Virgin Mary

(Middle Ages, modern period)

Church of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary, aerial view from the south during the archaeological excavation.

Church of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary, aerial view from the south during the archaeological excavation.

Photo T. Ott, 2011.

The Church of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary shows a Romanesque core, which in the 13th century served as the spiritual centre of the surrounding mining sites and adjacent settlement. The church with a Gothic presbytery, a later – obviously early Baroque – tower and classicist nave is situated in an oval church yard with stone wall, in some sections displaying a ditch. Based on the results of an archaeological excavation, the church yard served as a cemetery, but might as well been used as a refuge for the inhabitants. The earliest building phase of the church of Staré Město (2nd half of the 13th century) can be reconstructed as a larger triple-aisled basilica in the Romanesque style with perhaps three apses in the east. The current appearance is the result of a classicist remodelling in the 1780s.

References: Thannabaur 1925; Weinelt 1937; Samek 1994; Prix 1991, 1999; Kohoutek – Militký 2003; Kohoutek 2004; Wihoda 2007; Zezula – Kiecoň 2014.

Navigation point: N 50°00‘19.08“, E 17°26‘23.40“.