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

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“.