Saint James' Church

Saint James' church was founded for German inhabitants who lived in this part of Brno in the 13th century. There is visible the painted heraldry of mother superior from Oslavany Cistercian monastery with the date 1220 on the vault of the presbytery. This date recalls the consecration of the smaller Romanesque church that once stood here before this late Gothic St. James's church and it used to serve Flemish and German colonists.

In 1368–1405, some chapels were built around the church and these chapels created a unique urbanistic complex. The oldest one was Saint Morris's chapel from the year 1352. Late Gothic construction of the parish church started with building up the choir in 1446. In 1515 the finished presbytery was affected by the fire that caused the roof to fall in and it subsequently destroyed all altars. The new main altar was consecrated in 1516. The building of the churchtower started in the 1520s.

The Baroque interior style was done in 1750-1766. During this rebuilding the older wooden altars were removed and replaced by new marble ones which are still there. In 1871 – 1879 the church was radically reconstructed into the Gothic Revival style led by Heinrich Ferstel.

In 2001, archeological exploration revealed the size of Brno Ossuary, an ossuary underneath the square by the church, which is estimated to contain the remains of 50,000 people.

References:

• Wikipedia

Address

Jakubské náměstí 1-2, Brno, Czech Republic

Details

Founded: 14th century
Category: Religious sites in Czech Republic