Visited:13. 9. 2021
History:The Church of St. Wenceslas is a Roman Catholic church dedicated to St. Wenceslas in Strupčice in the Chomutov district. The first written mention of Strupčice dates back to 1352 and two years later a parish church is mentioned here, whose patron was Newlas of Zecz (from Ervěnice). Around 1500 it was rebuilt in the late Gothic style and probably fortified. The bell tower, which is still preserved today, was also built in this reconstruction. In the 17th century, the Protestant majority lived in Strupčice, and therefore the local Catholic rectory disappeared. During the Renaissance, minor modifications were made to the church and the last major reconstruction in the Baroque style took place in 1780. During this reconstruction the church was extended towards the west. The interior paintings were not painted until the end of the 19th century. The condition of the church worsened in the second half of the 20th century, when Strupčice had to give way to a brown coal quarry. During this time the church gradually fell into disrepair. Eventually, however, it was decided to preserve the village and after 1990 the church roof was repaired. Meanwhile, the last reconstruction of the church was underway at the time of my visit, in 2021.
The church is a rectangular single-nave building with a square presbytery, to the northern side of which is added a late Gothic tower. The roof of the nave is gabled and topped by a turret with an onion bay above the west gable. The nave has a flat ceiling and is lit by large segmented windows. In its western part stands the chancel, supported by a pair of cylindrical sandstone columns and accessed by a spiral staircase in the north-west corner. The space below is lit by two oval windows. In the south-west corner is another spiral staircase leading to the attic. The presbytery is lit by a single window on the south side and is vaulted with a Bohemian plaque. A late Gothic portal leads to the vaulted sacristy on the ground floor of the tower. A staircase leads from the sacristy to the pulpit. During the Baroque reconstruction, the original Gothic nave was extended to the west and a small anteroom was added, which has a niche with a Baroque statue of St Wenceslas in the front. The tower has four brick and one wooden storey with a bell-tower. With the exception of the ground floor, they are separated by beamed ceilings. The tower is entered through the attic to its third floor, from where a ladder descends to the second floor, where a walled entrance is visible. The brick floors of the tower are lit by a trio of slotted gunports with preserved partitions for small arms. The tower is topped by an onion tower with an octagonal lantern. The main church altar with a painting of the Murder of St Wenceslas is Baroque from the first half of the 18th century. The pulpit is rococo. There is an organ in the choir. The clock in the west front is driven by a machine located in the attic. In the church there is a tombstone of the Chomutov burgher Kryštof of Killendal from 1571, moved from the defunct village of Nové Sedlo nad Bílinou.
Source:https://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kostel_svat%C3%A9ho_V%C3%A1clava_(Strup%C4%8Dice)
Source:https://www.pamatkovykatalog.cz/kostel-sv-vaclava-12650656
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