Kostel svatého Jana Nepomuckého (Hřensko) Church

The Church of Saint John of Nepomuk stands in the middle of Hřesko in the Děčín district, in a deep valley at the mouth of the Kamenice stream. It is the lowest-situated church in the Czech Republic. It has been a cultural monument since nineteen sixty-six.

It was built in seventeen eighty-six and seventeen eighty-seven. Emperor Joseph the Second allegedly gave the impetus for its construction. On his way to Děčín, he stopped here and was very surprised at how difficult a journey through the deep rocky gorge the local believers had to undertake in order to attend services. The church then originally served the woodworking community. It was damaged by floods several times. During one of the most recent, in two thousand and two, the water rose almost to the windows. This is documented by marks in the interior on the right side next to the altar. The church was subsequently restored and today it mainly serves the local Vietnamese Catholic community.

It is a single-nave late baroque building with chamfered corners and a narrower, rounded presbytery, to which a rectangular extension is attached. The façade is divided by three pilaster frames. In its axis is a chasuble window with an arch at the apex and is topped by an attic with pilasters. In the middle rises a low wooden bell tower with chamfered corners. In front of the entrance is a wooden vestibule. The nave and presbytery are covered with barrel vaults with lunettes and the gallery is wooden.

The main altar dates from seventeen ten and was probably transferred here from one of the closed churches. It bears an image of Saint John of Nepomuk. After the flood in two thousand and two, it was reconstructed. The other furnishings from the nineteenth century were destroyed by the flood, so the current fittings are from the beginning of the twenty-first century. In front of the church entrance stands a statue of Saint John of Nepomuk from seventeen fifty-six.

The church also contains a two-manual organ from the nineteen twenties from the workshop of Prague builder Josef Růžička of Břevnov. Its case conceals an older positive organ by Franz Muller of Janov from eighteen seventy-two. Its six stops were used for the new instrument, which has a total of ten stops. For such a small church, its romantic disposition is rather over-dimensioned. The organ is in poor condition. The bellows do not work, the leather parts are crumbling to dust, and the wood of the pipes and the case have been attacked by woodworm. After the flood in two thousand and two, when water reached the pedal board, the organ was inspected by Jan Záhora the Elder, the regenschori of Děčín.