Painted Church in Praha, TX

At the time when I lived in Europe, I did not an opportunity to visit Prague in the Czech Republic or earlier, when it was Czechoslovakia. However, last summer, we did go to Praha in Texas.

 

The St. Mary's of the Assumption church is our most favorite one of all the painted churches we have seen so far.

It was built in 1895, painted by Gottfried Flury, who was an artist of Swiss origin.

 

Just to let you see some of the church interior.

The St. Mary's was the third painted church we visited on that day. Outside the church, there is a lovely little place dedicated to Holy Mary.

After the visit and the spiritual and esthetic experience we also visited the ones who were buried at the local cemetery. 

Then, it was finally time to play in the church yard!

After that, we went to see the Texas Czech Culture and Heritage Place in La Grange. However, more about that another time, in a different post.

Painted Church in High Hill, TX

The church was established in 1860. The first church service was held in High Hill by Rev. Victor Gury of Fredericksburg in 1861. At the beginning, the mass was celebrated in the log cabin which belonged to Mr. Andreas Bilimek and then at Franz Wick's place. Later, in 1870, the first church log building was completed and blessed. 

 

Soon after that, in 1875, a new wooden church was built and primary the log building was used as a school (on weekdays only) for 55 years.

Father Gerlach, who came to High Hill in 1899, was the first parish priest there.

The local community grew and needed a bigger church, so in 1905 the plans for a new stone church building were created by Leo MJ Dielmann, an architect of San Antonio. Starting in 1906, when the first brick of the new structure was blessed, all the people of the Blessed Virgin Mary parish worked on the construction of their new church. Their efforts resulted in completing the place in 1910.

The original stained glass windows were transferred from the old church and installed in the new building.

The church pillars are painted so craftfully - looking at them you may think, the pillars are made of marble, however, it is just wood covered with paint.

That was the second "painted church" that we visited during our August day trip. In the short video you can see the beautifully decorated ceiling and a few other elements of the church decorations.

  

You can see few more photos from the church on our FB page.

St John the Baptist - Painted Church

In August, we visited some of the so-called "painted churches" in Texas.

The first one was St. John the Baptist Church in Ammansville. The church structure was built in 1919. The two previous ones were destroyed by a hurricane and fire.

The pretty pink church interior was decorated by Fred Donecker and Sons.

 

The settlement of Ammansville, situated 9 miles from San Antonio, was founded by Czech (mainly from Moravia) and German immigrants in the 1870s. The first man who made his home there was Mr. Andrew Amman. He came to the area on 12 March 1870.

 

 

 

Normally, we do not wear shorts when we go to church. That day was an exception - a whole day trip on a very hot Texas day. No Sunday type clothes were possible.

 Pretty, isn't it?

Not many people live in Ammansville theses days but it is quite a charming place.

Source:

Texas Handbook Online