Church of Saint Laurentius

The year 2023 marks exactly 700 years since the founding of St. Lawrence’s Church in the Brno neighbourhood of Komín, which was built on the orders of Elizabeth Richeza of Poland. The church was built in the contemporary Gothic style.

At the turn of the 20th century, being too small for its swelling congregation, the task of expanding the church’s capacity fell to architect Antonín Blažek. The central section of the original church was demolished and replaced by a larger structure with a central nave and two side aisles, running at a right-angle to the original building. The tower at the western end of the church was retained, as was the former presbytery to the east, now transformed into a side chapel. In its walls we find a small, Gothic portal, the design of which is known in Czech as a ‘donkey’s back’ (oslí hřbet), owing to the unusual shape of the arch – crowned by a flat saddle-shape, atop curved flanks. This feature dates from the early 14th century and led into the old sacristy. 

The church interior has several interesting details: e.g. the Neo-Romanesque wooden pulpit portraying the Four Evangelists, and the original Stations of the Cross, with images in relief, dating from 1932. On the iron door leading to the undercroft you can see a horseshoe which, according to tradition, originated during the time the Swedish army besieged Brno. Apparently, it came from one of the Swedish horses that was stabled in the church.  .