DEANERY CHURCH OF SAINT JACHIM
Introduction
The dean’s church dedicated to Saint Joachim, the patron saint of the town, stands at the upper end of the main square. This massive building forms one of the dominant landmarks of the town, rising above it. The church was originally planned and built as a Lutheran church and is therefore considered the first stone church of this type in the territory of today’s Czech Republic. In 1624 it was re-consecrated as a Catholic church during the Counter-Reformation. In the second half of the 18th century it was Baroquised, and after the town fire of 1873 it was rebuilt in the Neo-Gothic style. The last general restoration took place between 1981 and 1992, with the interior painting completed in 1992–1994.
Description of the building
Originally a Late Gothic single-nave church, it was rebuilt into a Neo-Gothic three-nave structure with a rectangular ground plan measuring approximately 50.5 × 28.5 metres. The presbytery is not set apart from the nave. The building is covered by a metal-clad gable roof about 14 metres high today; originally it measured roughly 17.5 metres. The tower reaches a height of 56 metres. The outer walls are supported by sixteen buttresses with one offset.
The walls are pierced by three large main portals, two smaller entrances, and an access to one of the four galleries. Sixteen tall Neo-Gothic windows feature a Gothic-style sill and tracery composed of two quatrefoils and one trefoil within a flattened pointed arch. The rubble-stone masonry is smoothly plastered.
The church is oriented along a north–south axis, with the western wall lying below the level of the road leading to Boží Dar and further to Germany, originally a trade route to Annaberg.
Originally, worshippers stood during services, allowing the church to accommodate up to three thousand people.
Building history
The construction of a new church was prompted by the rapid growth of the settlement, as the original parish church of All Saints could no longer accommodate the population. Moreover, the centre of settlement had shifted from the former Brottmarkt to the present square.
Construction began on the Monday after Trinity Sunday, that is on 1 June 1534. The works were led by the Joachimsthal builder Hanuš Kopp; the chief carpenter was initially Wolf Müller from Ostrov, and the stonemason was Jörg from Bamberg.
The first Mass was held as early as 25 November 1537, on St Catherine’s Day, led by Johann Mathesius, even though the church was only in a rough state — windows, ceiling, gable walls, and tower were still missing. The roof was only provisionally covered with shingles, replaced by slate in 1539. The church was completed three years later under the direction of the Schlick court architect Johann Münnich. The total cost amounted to 14,824 gulden and 8 groschen.
Interior furnishings were gradually installed between 1542 and 1573. The ceiling was boarded in 1566, and in 1567 the walls were painted by Augustin Habart of Prague, known as Kordel. The galleries were painted in 1573.
In 1623 the Lutheran church was closed and reopened in 1624 after being consecrated to Saint Joachim.
Between 1764 and 1785 the church was Baroquised. In 1768 a new sacristy was built between the tower and the high altar, the church was whitewashed, and a new floor was laid. After repairs to the roof structure, a new slate covering was installed between 1776 and 1781.
During the great town fire on 31 March 1873, the church was almost completely destroyed; only the perimeter walls with Renaissance portals survived. Fifty-six proposals were submitted for reconstruction, and the winning design came from Josef Mocker, architect of St Vitus Cathedral in Prague and a representative of Neo-Gothic purism. Construction was directed by Karl Franz Richter from Johanngeorgenstadt, while the stonework was carried out by the Habrecht brothers from Zwickau. The reconstruction cost 88,000 gulden and was financed by loans and donations from across the country and abroad. The Neo-Gothic furnishings were acquired between 1876 and 1884.
In 1952, liturgical and artistic objects from the dissolved monastery at Mariánská were transferred to the church. On 3 May 1958, the church was listed as a national cultural monument, and the exterior façade was restored the same year.
Between 1981 and 1992 the church underwent a complete restoration. On 8 November 1987, Cardinal František Tomášek granted it the status of a pilgrimage church associated with the traditional Marian pilgrimages to Mariánská. The renovation was completed with the installation of new bells, and on 13 September 1992 the church was consecrated again by Prague auxiliary bishop František Václav Lobkowicz.
Portals
The portals are largely similar, with the western one considered the finest. Its position is also unusual: this so-called Miners’ Portal has always lain below the level of the adjacent road. In the centre of the gable field is a carved bust of Stephan Schlick, founder of the town. Beneath it is a cornucopia from which a dolphin leaps, and in the frieze runs a distich carved by Jörg of Bamberg and composed by Janus Naevius:
HVNC PIETAS REGISQUE FAVOR ATQUE INNOCUA VIRTUS ORBAVRUNT VITA CONIUGE ET IMPERIO…
The northern portal shows the bust of a beardless soldier with an open visor, while the medallion of the eastern portal, reached by a nine-step staircase, resembles the western one.
One portal frame now leads into the sacristy. It is an original round-arched surround, decorated with foliage in the lower third and smooth above. At the top is carved the coat of arms of the Schlick county of Bassano.
The Renaissance tower portal with a round arch is decorated with leaves and rosettes above half-columns with Corinthian capitals. A smooth frieze with baluster shafts rises to the tower’s string course.
Tower
The tower adjoins the southern chancel wall. Before the fire its height, including dome and cross, reached 25 fathoms (about 47.5 m); today it is 56 metres high. Up to the eaves it is cylindrical, then octagonal, with two buttresses. Above the entrance portal are two pairs of coupled windows. The octagonal section has two parts: the lower contains the clock faces, while the upper, added after the fire, serves as the belfry. The tower is crowned with a tall pointed spire.
Inside is a sandstone spiral staircase vaulted in brick and supported by a central spindle. The ninth step is level with the church floor and once led to the sacristy. Another opening at the thirty-first step led to the former gallery. The staircase is lined with a carved stone handrail.
Until the fire the church also had a small sanctus turret in the middle of the roof with a domed top.
Bells
The original great bell was brought in 1542 from Burckstein by Hieronymus and Lorenz Schlick. It was destroyed together with the other bells in the fire of 31 March 1873. After reconstruction new bells were hung, but these were requisitioned during World War I. Three bells from the workshop of Richard Herold in Chomutov were installed in 1922; they were confiscated in 1941 and transported in 1942 to Königsberg in East Prussia. From there they were shipped away, but the vessel was sunk by a Soviet submarine in the Baltic Sea. Only the small passing bell and a cast-iron bell from the early 20th century remained, as regulations required at least one bell to stay in each parish.
In 1992 Archdean František Krásenský purchased new bells from Marie Tomášková-Dytrchová of Brodek u Přerova for 450,000 crowns using funds from a public collection. They were consecrated and hoisted on 18 October 1992 by the Karlovy Vary company Kama.
Church and furnishings before the fire
The original interior reflected the wealth and importance of Jáchymov, at that time one of the most significant towns in Europe and the second most populous in the kingdom.
In 1545 the counts Hieronymus and Lorenz Schlick donated an altarpiece by Lucas Cranach. The citizen and mining entrepreneur Ondřej Selttenreich donated a Holy Sepulchre in 1559, and the patrician Nickel Militz purchased a sculpture of the Ascension in 1560.
In 1564 ten wooden columns were installed purely for decorative purposes. These were hexagonal pillars carved from single pieces of wood from floor to ceiling. In the Baroque period they were painted and gilded.
Between 1764 and 1785 the church was remodelled in the Late Baroque style. New side altars were built in 1764; in 1768 a new chancel railing was installed. Patron benches and a confessional were carved by the sculptor Matyáš Schmiedhuber, who also modified the altars of the Holy Trinity and Saint Anne. The Stations of the Cross were purchased in 1773 from the painter Eliáš Dollhopf of Horní Slavkov.
In 1785 the new marble high altar was completed (cost 1,782 gulden). It involved several masters: the Prague stonemason Matyáš Millauer, the builder Christianelli, the gilder Tadeáš Beck of Jáchymov, and the sculptor Schmiedhuber. The main altarpiece was painted by Josef Kramolín of Prague. Cranach’s original panel was temporarily moved behind a side altar.
Many of these works were of immense value. On the Holy Sepulchre altar stood a life-size silver figure of Christ with a tomb made of silver ore stones. Even the pulpit, supported by a life-size miner figure, was hammered from solid silver.
Church after the fire
During reconstruction the interior layout was completely changed and the exterior partly altered. The most visible external change was the installation of new windows. Originally the church had two rows: large upper windows and smaller triple windows beneath them lighting the space below the gallery. These smaller windows were bricked up because the gallery was not rebuilt.
The interior was transformed from a single nave into a three-aisled arrangement using new columns. Enclosed galleries were built into the corners, now serving as the sacristy, winter chapel, baptismal chapel, and symbolic Holy Sepulchre. The columns are connected by arches carrying a flat ceiling.
Another major change was the construction of a closing wall between the tower and the presbytery. Previously the tower body had been visible from inside and provided access to the gallery.
All interior furnishings were destroyed in the 1873 fire. Miraculously saved were a pewter baptismal bowl with wreath, Cranach’s panel of St Christopher, and two sections of railing.
Railing
Originally the railing surrounded the baptismal font in the south-east corner beside the old sacristy. Today the two surviving sections close the entrance to the baptismal chapel under the north-east gallery. It is made of interwoven rods within a wide flat-iron frame; the unicorn and leaves are cut from sheet metal. It dates from the first half of the 17th century. The present wall paintings were completed after the last restoration (1981–1992), in 1992–1994.
Baptismal font
The preserved part consists of a smooth bowl 51 cm in diameter and a cast pewter wreath 22 cm wide, now set on a modern font. It is an excellent work by the Jáchymov bell- and pewter-founder Hans Wildt from 1575, confirmed by the initials HW with bell symbol and town and master’s marks. The commissioner was the Jáchymov patrician Hans Roth.
The decoration includes geometric bands, palmettes, and acanthus scrolls. The central band has 35 panels with seven Passion scenes repeated five times. In the 36th panel appears the donor’s bust with initials HR and the year 1575.
Crypt
Today the crypt has two chambers on one level. It was probably originally two-storeyed, suggested by its connection with the parish cellar via an underground corridor beneath the Jáchymov stream. This passage is now blocked because in 1992 a crane lifting new bells collapsed into it. As it served as the burial place of the local branch of the Schlick family and also of mining officials, the present size would otherwise be insufficient.
The original entrance was covered by a white marble slab depicting Katharina of Vartenberg, wife of Lorenz Schlick, buried in 1541, surrounded by medallions of her eight children. The slab was shattered in the fire by falling roof structures; only the medallion of Stephan Schlick survived and is now set into the Winter Chapel.
The crypt was looted during the fire; only one silver coffin nameplate was recovered. Later the crypt was used for the burial of abbots from the monastery at Mariánská. Today it contains three empty children’s coffins and three adult coffins, one holding recovered skeletal remains.
Photo gallery:
https://mipalfi.rajce.idnes.cz/Kostel_sv._Jachyma/
