Abstract
A little known part of the history of the Horní Jiřetín church was the fate of the local pilgrimage site. There is evidence of at least its partial existence in a painting by Carl Robert Croll from 1843 and the land register map from a year later.
However, convincing pictorial evidence was found recently on the site in the form of two plans, preserved in the collections of the National Heritage Institute at the castle in Mnichovo Hradiště (inv. no. MH 2390, MH 2391).
The floor plan and design of the façade show the Horní Jiřetín church surrounded by a distinctly segmented rectangular cloister with seven chapels, whose west wing was connected with the ground fl oor of the rectory. Thanks to the data from the Horní Jiřetín parish chronicles, the fate of the entire complex could be partially clarifi ed.
Construction of the cloister with the chapels and the rectory was planned from 1730, at which time Count Johann Josef of Waldstein provided funds. However, these funds were not suffi cient, and the actual construction did not begin until after 1750.
The rectory was built during the fi rst stage, while work on the cloister continued in several stages essentially until the end of the eighteenth century and was never entirely completed. Thus, at the end of the 1830s, the site was to be torn down.
The chronicles mention that the construction began according to the plans fi led in the archives. However, it is not clear whether it actually relates to the drawings found in Mnichovo Hradiště.
The form and design of these plans indicate more that they are only copies of the original, older design made in relation to a later date of construction. Hence, the author of the plans and the original design still remains unclear.
The striking similarity of the composition and form of the designed complex to the site in Mariánské Radčice demonstrates that the original design for Horní Jiřetín was in some way connected to the Litoměřice builder Giulio Broggio.