Kostel Nanebevzetí Panny Marie v Jindřichově Hradci Church

The Deanery Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary is the parish church of Jindřichův Hradec. This Gothic structure on Kostelní ulice dates from approximately the 1360s and 1370s. The church was founded by Oldřich the Third of Hradec as a new parish church and at the same time as a church for the commandery of the Order of German Knights. The older Church of Saint John the Baptist was at that time passing into the hands of the Minorites. The completion work continued until the beginning of the fifteenth century.

The German Knights held the patronage until 1434, when the Taborites set the church on fire during the Hussite Wars. Further damage was caused by the siege of the city by King Jiří of Poděbrady in 1467. The dilapidated church was repaired in 1482 by Henry the Fourth of Hradec. A year later he installed a Catholic priest there. In 1487, this priest obtained the patronage rights from Pope Innocent the Eighth for himself and his successors. In 1594, Adam the Second of Hradec handed the church over to the Jesuits, who managed it until 1773. In the meantime, in 1625, William Slavata obtained from Pope Urban the Eighth the elevation of the parish to a deanery.

The church has three aisles with a long choir closed off by a five-sided apse. Two builders constructed it. First, the right aisle was created with massive supporting buttresses. A new builder then constructed the central and left aisles, which are less massive and more ornate. The masonry made from fieldstone granite is approximately one meter thick.

On the north side stands a pyramidal tower. In its basement there used to be a Marian chapel. On the south side, an octagonal stone turret with a spiral staircase rises above the roof. People commonly call it the snail. The present main portal in the western façade dates from 1851. In the western part of the church is a gallery installed after 1483, which was extended into the right aisle in 1653.

Next to the sacristy and tower stands the Špulířská chapel, founded in 1489. It takes its name from its founder, the knight Viktorin Špulíř of Jiter. It was completed in 1506, as confirmed by the date on the supporting pillar. Over the centuries, the chapel changed its name several times. It was called the Chapel of the Most Holy Trinity, the Chapel of Saint Hippolytus according to the relics housed there, and after 1820 the Marian chapel. Its ribbed vault with figured decorations on the keystones and plastic figures of animals among the ribs, including a monkey.

In the crypt beneath the chancel lie the remains of the lords of Hradec and Slavata.