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Church of Our Lady Victorious at White Mountain (Panna Marie Vítězná na Bílé hoře)
Karlovarská 3/6 (Zbečenská) Praha 6 - Řepy Phone: 220 513 217 http://www.farnost-brevnov.cz/bohosluzby/About
After the Battle of White Mountain, in 1622 - 1624 unknown builders constructed a chapel on a nearby plain to honour those who fell in battle. Originally dedicated to St Wenceslaus and later consecrated to Our Lady, the unearthed bones of the fallen were deposited here. The first to take up administrating the site was the Servite Order, who with the support of Emperor Ferdinand II started to build a monastery in 1628. The monastery was never completed, though, and the unfinished space was later transformed into a roadside inn.| The Marian Chapel later became the basis for an expansive pilgrimage church erected here in 1708 – 1730 by building contractor and painter Kristian Luna (sometimes K. Dienzenhofer is listed as the architect). The building is a typical Baroque pilgrimage site with a central church surrounded by chapels, an ambit and the administrator's residence. Well-known Bavarian painter Cosmas Damian Asam painted the fresco Glorification of the Church by Czech Patron Saints in the central cupola.The most significant part of the site is the architecturally intricate portal at the southern entrance. A 1710 sculpture of the Annunciation by Johann Ulrich Mayer is on the portal; a statue of St Sebastian and St Rochus, probably by the same artist, stands in front of the portal. The most interesting item is at the altar in St Wenceslaus Chapel – a copy of the Birth of Christ, with Jesus depicted wearing a cloth diaper. The original of the painting, which was blessed by Father Dominic before the Battle of White Mountain, burned, but fortunately three copies had been made. One is stored at the church of the Infant Jesus of Prague, the other is at the Vatican and the third is located here. After Joseph II decided to auction off the church, canon Josef Čapek purchased it in 1811, tended to the site and returned it to the church. The church belongs to the Roman Catholic Church and is administrated by the Benedictines at St Margret in Břevnov.
