Kostel svatého Bartoloměje v Kolíně Church

The Church of Saint Bartholomew is the main parish church in Kolín and a powerful Gothic landmark of the city. Since 1995, its premises have been designated a national cultural monument.

The early Gothic church was built probably shortly after the royal city was founded in the middle of the 13th century. However, another church had stood here before, as archaeological finds show. The founder was most likely King Přemysl Otakar the Second. The construction was initially led by the Premyslid building workshop, which drew from Saxon, Thuringian, and North French models. Before the year 1300, two slender octagonal towers on the western façade were completed. They are 66 meters high and originally served as bell towers.

In 1349 the church burned down. Charles the Fourth then in 1360 summoned his court architect Peter Parléř to oversee the reconstruction, who was already directing the construction of the Cathedral of Saint Vitus in Prague at that time. On the site of the original presbytery, Parléř built a new, high choir of cathedral type with a ring of chapels. The restored church was consecrated in 1378.

By the end of the 15th century, the ringing of bells had compromised the structural integrity of the north tower. In 1504, an independent pyramidal bell tower was therefore created and the bells were moved into it. Until 1756 they hung with their opening facing upward. In 1728, the astronomical clock was also transferred here from the north tower. On the south tower hung the bell Vužan, with a high silver content and hoops made of pure gold. It was guarded as one of the city's greatest treasures. Both the bell and the astronomical clock were destroyed by a major city fire in 1796.

In the second half of the 19th century, architect Josef Mocker led an extensive purist reconstruction, completed in 1910. In 1945 the church was damaged by a bomb during an air raid. General reconstruction began in 1963 and continues to this day.

The lower western part is an early Gothic three-aisled basilica with an external buttress system. Above the original western entrance is a circular Gothic rose window. The tympanum of one of the two north portals is a copy. The original from the 13th century is now in the Lapidary of the National Museum in Prague. From the south is adjoined the Kokovská chapel with an altar of Our Lady of Sorrows.

Around Parléř's presbytery is the sacristy and six chapels, which were once maintained by city guilds: the Millers' Chapel, the Maltsters' Chapel, the Butchers' Chapel, the Sperlingovs' Chapel, the Saint John Chapel, and the Saint Wenceslaus Chapel. John the Second Žehrovský of Kolovrat is buried in the Maltsters' Chapel. He was a military captain of the city and participated in the peaceful expedition of King George of Poděbrady. The neo-Gothic main altar from the beginning of the 20th century was created by students of the sculptural school in Hořicích. Beneath the presbytery lies a crypt.