St. Bartholomew’s Church – Rumburk

Historical description of the building:

The first mention of the church dates back to the year 1352. The present-day appearance of a single-nave building with a northern tower near the presbytery and the chapel of St. John of Nepomuk was partly acquired during the first historically documented reconstruction, which took place in the 1540s. The completed building was consecrated in 1546, as evidenced by a stone slab with this date and the Šlejnice coat of arms, which is found in the interior of the nave. After a devastating fire in 1744, the church was renovated and decorated in the Baroque style. The repair lasted until 1755. Since then, the church has not changed much in terms of construction, as evidenced by a drawing by an unknown author from the 1840s. The planned major reconstruction from the beginning of the 20th century did not take place. The author of the altarpiece The Passion of St. Bartholomew from 1701 is the court painter of Emperor Leopold I, Anton Schoonjans. The owner of the Rumburg estate, Anton Florian of Liechtenstein, paid a considerable sum of 6,000 florins for it at the time.

Intangible cultural heritage:

In the church of St. Bartholomew worked as an organist, regenschori, music teacher, a native of Rumburk, an important baroque composer Johann Christoph Kridel (1672-1733). A CD with his concert arias was released by Musica Florea Concert-Arien, 1996 (Neu-eroffnetes Blumengärtlein) and Šluknovska Chamber Orchestra, 2012 (Newly opened flower garden). Compositions by J. Ch. Kridela’s repertoire includes the Vilémovsky Cathedral Choir and the Šluknovska Chamber Choir.

Points of interest:

On the outer wall of the church there are tombstones from 1681, 1682 and 1695. A nativity scene is set up in the main nave of the church every year at Christmas. The polychrome nativity figures, 80 cm high, date from 1681. 1911. They were carved in the Grödner Valley in South Tyrol by Ferdinand Demetz, director of the local carving school. Before 1945, there was an association of Easter Riders near the church, but it disappeared before World War II. It was not restored after 1989.