The Decanal Church of the Birth of Our Lady

The decanal church, built in the style of high Gothic in the 1st half of the 15th century by Mr. Jaklík and his son Václav at the place of the older building, established concurrently with the town. Situated at the north- west corner of the square. In the 80s of the 16th century the northern nave with an organ gallery and entrance hall was added to the church. The church was extensively damaged by fi re in 1722, then it was restored. Apparently at this time the church tower was decorated by the municipal coats of arms. It was the “kingdom” of the Czech and at that time also a dean Vokoun. It was thoroughly re-Gothicized in 1894-1897 by R. Stech according to the designs of J. Mocker. At the same time the interior was decorated by the mural frescos, the Rennaissance gables on the west front were decorated with graffi tos and the windows in presbytery with window paintings after the designs of Mikoláš Aleš. It was furnished with pseudo-Gothic furnishings. On the vault over the high altar there are painted 4 carps of Vodňany. Aleš´s original sketches together with the individual items of the original movable chattels can be found and seen in the collections of the museum and gallery. In the 64-meter high tower there hang 6 bells, the largest one – Marek- was casted in 1725. At the south foot of the church there stands the missionary cross from 1853. Next to it, on the surface, there is the mark in memory of the bell called Jan, which was smashed taking down for war purposes in 1917.