Reconstruction of the towers of St. Nicolas' church in Cheb

How are the towers built?

The author of the project documentation for the reconstruction of the towers, which have been until 1945 an unambiguous hallmark of the town, is the architect Luděk Vystyd from Cheb.

The competitive tendering for the realisation of the reconstruction was won by the firm Pegisan Ltd. from Pilsen. Its activity was supervised by Jan Novotný, the agent of the Cheb firm J&B invest Ltd., who also represented the Foundation fund in this respect and provided this task as a sponsor donation to the fund.

The original idea to raise the helmets in parts and complete them on the towers was revised by the contractor during the realisation. After the completion of one helmet its weight was counted including the slate covering it, and the technology of the process was changed. The firm provided the appropriate crane, which successfully raised the heavy helmet and placed it onto the tower in one piece.

The installation of the helmets onto the towers was a great performance posted live on the web page of the town. Naturally there were unplanned changes and time lags but that was understandable considering the difficulty of the project.

Origins and shapes of the helmets of St. Nicolas' church during centuries

(Text based on The Supplementary report to the project of the new towers of St. Nicolas' church by Acad. Arch. Dr. Josef Čihák from 30. 6. 1956)

Building of the new parish church has been instigated by rapid development of the town in the first half of the 13th century. The church was founded probably in 1220 originally as a Romanesque basilica of a large groundplan, and completed in 1239. However this church, dedicated to St. Nicolas, the patron of merchants, was first devastated in 1270 during a large fire of the town.

After the fire the church was administered by the German Knights, who bound themselves to build a new one. Around 1350 a new commandry of the order was built, presbytery and the towers were renovated. Renovation of the church nave was of emergency character only for a long period because of the lack of finances. Proper renovation and rebuild did not take place until 1468 in the period of the king Georg of Poděbrady. Afterwards the town took over the administration of the church and 1476 completed the new Gothic church with three naves. The towers were adorned by typical gothic tented roof, as can be seen on all vedute of the town until 1742.

In 1742 the northern tower was struck by lightning, and the ensuing fire destroyed both tents above the towers, the belfry spaces and the roof structure. The vault supports and provisional shingle roofing remained until 1783. The bequest by the burgomaster Soldner from 1752 enabled the reconstruction of the towers after the proposal by the famous Baroque architect Baltazar Neumann. The town council supported Baltazar Neumann during his professional studies, so he, being appealed to, arrived in 1747 to Cheb and designed the new towers. The construction of the Baroque belfry space was completed in 1758 together with an onion dome on the southern tower.

In 1809 during a fire of the northern part of the town the wooden bridge between the belfries burnt down, together with the roof structures of both towers and both choirs with the organ. The vault was damaged by the collapsed Baroque copula of the southern tower. The roof structure and the towers were provisionally covered in the same year. In 1812 a tented roof with four turrets was rebuilt on the southern tower, while the northern tower remained with a provisional roof during the whole 19th century.

Another reconstruction of part of the inner spaces and the altar took place in 1862, by the master builder A. Haberzettl. Since the reconstruction and the survey of the inner spaces used up the total sum, the façade and the northern tower remained unrepaired until sufficient resources have been gathered in 1865. The same year the northern tower was completed with the fice-sided tented roof, designed by the engineer Scholmeyer, and built by the master builder Kašpar Jager from Kynšperk.

In 1887 a preliminary committee was established for the restauration of the church. In 1890 the work began after the approval of the plans by the commission for the heritage care in Vienna, with its chairman von Schmidt, the master builder of the Vienna Dome. The towers and the presbytery were reconstructed; in 1892 the reconstruction of the vaults, roof structure and the ridge turret was completed. The interior of the church was renovated and newly furnished during following two years in the Neo-Gothic style.

The last heavy blow the church suffered in 1945. At the end of the War during the air strike onto the Cheb railway both towers, resp. their helmets, collapsed. They were provisionally roofed only. None of the attempts for rebuilding the towers in the after war period has been accomplished.

Shortly presented history of the church and its towers declares, that, except a very short period, the towers of St. Nicolas' church were embellished by tall tented roofs. One of the Baroque onions by Baltazar Neumann was only an episode. Therefore the Arch. Dr. Josef Čihák proposed the design of the new helmets with tented roofs, placed onto the earlier Baroque structure by Baltazar Neumann.