Pohřební kaple Žarošských Chapel

The funeral chapel of the Žarošský family stands in Bučovice in the Vyškov region, on Vyškovská Street not far from the Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary. It belongs to the town.

Its story begins in 1693. That was when Michal Žarošský had a funeral chapel built to the right of the church, dedicated to Saint Michael. In 1711, it was rebuilt by townsman Fabian Žarošský. The original chapel disappeared in 1826 when the church was being expanded and the cemetery relocated. In its place, a new, larger building arose with an altar dedicated to the Holy Cross. When the old chapel was demolished, stairs leading down to a crypt with coffins were found beneath a tombstone. A stone slab from the crypt of the Žarošský and Doležal families bore a Latin inscription indicating that Jan Doležel was the founder, with the date 1733. In 1852, František Budík had a cross erected on the original site.

The present chapel is an Empire style brick building with a rectangular floor plan and a right-angled chancel. On its outer side is a semicircular niche with three steps, where there used to be a sculpture of the Holy Trinity. The facade is decorated with pilasters, and on each of the side walls there is one window of lunette shape. The front ends with a triangular gable with an oval window. Above the entrance is a cornice on scrolled brackets, and above it is an original marble plaque from 1693. An Old Czech inscription commemorates that the chapel was erected at the expense of the renowned man Michal Žarošský, resident of the town of Bučovice, on August the tenth, 1693, in honor of Saint Michael the Archangel, and that he with his family should find rest in it. On the roof ridge sits a wooden turret, called a sanctus bell turret. It once held a bell with the Latin inscription Glory to God in the Highest, with the date 1693. During the First World War, it was confiscated.

The chapel became a monument in 1970, but the protection was revoked in 1977. Garages for the Public Security Corps were to be built in its place, but this never happened. In 1982, the church sold the chapel to the town before its planned demolition. This contract later proved to be important. When in 2016 the church requested the return of the chapel and 26 hectares of land, no dispute arose over it.

The chapel has been a cultural monument again since 2008. It has been undergoing restoration since 2010. First, the foundations were reinforced, drained and ventilated, and the walls were held with steel cables to prevent cracks from widening further. This was followed by a complete reconstruction.

Inside today is a lapidarium of old tombstones from the surrounding churches and cemeteries. The oldest dates from the second half of the fifteenth century, the most recent from 1733.