The Cathedral of St Nicholas () is a

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

cathedral located in the city of

České Budějovice České Budějovice (; ) is a city in the South Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 97,000 inhabitants. The city is located in the valley of the Vltava River, at its confluence with the Malše. České Budějovice is the largest ...

in the

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

History

The foundation stone of the parish church

was laid around 1265, shortly after the founding of the city. The church of St Nicholas was consecrated in 1297, although it was still incomplete at the time. The completion of the main building probably occurred sometime around the mid 14th century. The original Gothic church was damaged by fire and repaired in the years 1513 - 1518. The church was significantly rebuilt several times. During the 16th century the church acquired a new bell tower called the Black Tower. In the 17th century, reconstruction took place and the church acquired its current baroque appearance. The church has a triple

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

layout with 18th century interiors. In 1785 the interior was renovated when the church was elevated to a cathedral due to the creation of the

Diocese of České Budějovice In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associated ...

."ST. NICHOLAS CATHEDRAL"
Retrieved on 11 August 2015. A cemetery was located beside the church and was in use from the Middle Ages up to the year 1784, when the decree of

Joseph II Joseph II (13 March 1741 – 20 February 1790) was Holy Roman Emperor from 18 August 1765 and sole ruler of the Habsburg monarchy from 29 November 1780 until his death. He was the eldest son of Empress Maria Theresa and her husband, Emperor F ...

forbade further burials. Between 1969 and 1971 internal adjustments were made in the cathedral in order to improve the liturgical space after the changes made during the

Second Vatican Council The Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, commonly known as the or , was the 21st and most recent ecumenical council of the Catholic Church. The council met each autumn from 1962 to 1965 in St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City for session ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cathedral of St Nicholas, Ceske Budejovice

Baroque church buildings in the Czech Republic 17th-century Roman Catholic church buildings