Kostel svatého Linharta (Citov) Church

The church of St. Linhart stands on the roof of the city in the district of Mělník by the road connecting Mělník and Roudnice above Labem. It is a protected Baroque building complex including a temple, a bell tower, a fence wall and a cemetery. It is not a building of monumental dimensions, but its organic modesty makes it an authentic testament to the long life of a small Czech village.

The church dates from the beginning of the 13th century. Tradition ascribes its creation to an undetermined woman, whom we see on the stone relief of the tympanone - kneeling before the cross with the image of crucified Christ. This solution is interesting and puts the donor at the center of attention in an unusual way. The oldest written mention of the church is from 1268, when Smil of Cítov owned it. In 1352 it was already included as a parochial anchor, indicating its ever-increasing importance.

In the 17th and 18th centuries the temple went through gradual changes. The second half of the 17th century brought minor modifications and equipment. The fundamental transformation took place in 1753 through Baroque reconstruction. The ship was extended on the west side and attached a fancy new facade with a volute shield. The facade contains three niche: in the middle of the statue of St. Joseph with Jesus, on the sides of St. Wenceslas and St. Florian. This iconographic program is typical of Czech rural temples.

Remarkable is that the original Romanesque ensemble remained under the Baroque layer. In the reconstruction in 1943, the historian Václav Mencl systematically discovered and documented the circumferential wall of the ship, the apside and other elements. The last major repairs took place in the 1990s.

The temple includes a bell tower, which according to some records was created by the cargo of Count Jan Hubert from Hartig in the first half of the 18th century. The protected complex also includes a fenced wall and an old cemetery. The parish house and the pestilence column with the statue of the Virgin Mary Immaculata from 1713 are protected separately.

The interior is mostly baroque. The main altar presents a rococo work from the mid-18th century with statues of St. Linhart and St. Nicholas; It also contains a 17th century painting of St. Linhart. Ecclesiastes came from the Baroque, but were modified in the 19th century. In the side chapel there are two altars with sculptor reliefs of St. Hubert and St. Anna. The stone baptizer with carved reliefs and wooden lid from the first half of the 18th century is special.

Visiting the church pays off mainly because of its strata - you can see here the foundations from the 13th century, which the Baroque architecture of the 18th century has sensitively transformed, and everything complements the ordinary repairs of the 20th century. This continuity makes the church a living testament to the history of a small Czech village.