Co-Cathedral of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary ( cs, Konkatedrála Nanebevzetí Panny Marie; also called Our Lady of the Assumption Co-Cathedral or simply Opava Cathedral for a short) is a Gothic church in the historic city centre of

Opava Opava (; german: Troppau, pl, Opawa) is a city in the Moravian-Silesian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 55,000 inhabitants. It lies on the river Opava (river), Opava. Opava is one of the historical centres of Silesia. It was a histori ...

in the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

History

Its construction is believed to start during the reign of the Bohemian King Ottokar I (1198–1230). The cathedral is built of red bricks, having three naves and two towers. It is built in the fourteenth century

Gothic style Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

. Its southern tower is 102 metres tall (a few metres taller than Prague Castle Tower) and remains to be the tallest church tower in Silesia. Establishing the Church of the Assumption in Opava is associated with the

Teutonic Knights The Order of Brothers of the German House of Saint Mary in Jerusalem, commonly known as the Teutonic Order, is a Catholic religious institution founded as a military society in Acre, Kingdom of Jerusalem. It was formed to aid Christians on ...

. The construction of the church probably began shortly after 1204. Details about earlier

Romanesque church Romanesque architecture is an architectural style of medieval Europe characterized by semi-circular arches. There is no consensus for the beginning date of the Romanesque style, with proposals ranging from the 6th to the 11th century, this later ...

at this place are not well known. But the letter from King Wenceslaus I of 12 May 1237 already mentions the rectory in Opava. Construction of the church stopped after the death of Ottokar II. It has resumed again after the return of his illegitimate son Nicholas I. Over the time, the church undergone some additional Baroque and neo-Gothic modifications, suffered from fires in 1689 and 1759 and survived the heavy shelling from the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, after ...

during the World War II. Until today, the church remains to be one of the largest buildings in Opava and one of spectacular dominants of the city. Since 1996, it is the second seat of the bishop of Ostrava-Opava (hence "Co-cathedral"). It serves as a catholic church until this very day. In 1995, the building was declared a

national cultural monument of the Czech Republic The cultural monuments of the Czech Republic (Czech language, Czech: ''kulturní památka'') are heritage site, protected properties (both real property, real and movable property, movable properties) designated by the Ministry of Culture (Czech Rep ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Co-Cathedral of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary

Buildings and structures in Opava National Cultural Monuments of the Czech Republic

History

See also

References