St. Barbara Church

Construction of the church started 1388, in 1403 was the church recognized as a parochial church. It was built behind the town walls on a rocky cliff with a magnificent view over the valley of the Vrchlice River, outcrops of the richest silver mines and an old chapel dedicated to St. Barbara, the saint patron of miners. The first architect was a member of the Parler family, the family who built the St. Vitus Cathedral in Prague. Works on the church were interrupted for a long time by the Hussite Wars. In the 15th century the local stonemason Mater Hanuš carried on the construction according to original plans. Later the Architect of the Prague Castle, Matyas Rejsek, was charged to build the church. Rejsek began to erect the outer supporting system. His design of the vault created great hall over the original five-aisled ground plan. Huge glass walls are designed to refract as much light into the interior as possible, creating the unearthly impression of eternal enlightening. The masterpiece of fine arts are fresco decorations of the chapels, depicting religious motifs as well as scenes inspired by mining of silver and minting of coins. Such themes genuinely characterize the atmosphere of Kutná Hora – hard labor, immense wealth and humility materialized in the eternal house of God.

In 1558 the town authorities decided to definitely wind up the construction due lack of finance. Most of interior decorations date from the late Gothic period. In the Baroque period the gallery connecting St. Barbara's with the new Jesuit College was built. Later the Church started to decay. It has survived only thanks to a major restoration carried out by Labler and Mocker at the 19th century. They substituted the provisional western wall by the new neo-Gothic front facade. The Church St. Barbara together with the centre of Kutná Hora are inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List.