Church of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross in Petrovice

The Church of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross is the parish church of Petrovice, a village in South Moravia, in the Znojmo district, close to Moravský Krumlov. It serves three villages that make up the Petrovice parish — Petrovice, Dobelice and Lesonice — a fact reflected in the church's own interior furnishings.

When was the current church built?

The building standing at the center of Petrovice today was constructed between 1846 and 1849. It wasn't the village's first church, though: an earlier one stood on the spot now occupied by the village war memorial. At the edge of the adjoining park, near the memorial, the foundations of that older church are still visible, offering a physical trace of how the village center evolved over time.

Why did the church need repairs so soon after it was built?

The new church was raised on boggy, unstable ground, and the consequences showed up within decades. In 1887, cracks began appearing in the walls as the building settled unevenly into the soft soil beneath it. Repairs were carried out to stabilize the structure and stop the damage from spreading further.

What mark did the Second World War leave on the church?

Set into the eastern wall of the church is an artillery shell casing. It's a quiet reminder of the war's final day, when the church tower took a direct hit from a shell. Small and easy to miss, it remains one of the few physical traces of the fighting that reached this corner of Moravia in 1945.

What else is worth noticing inside?

Inside the church, wooden processional poles have been preserved, each bearing the original coat of arms of one of the three villages that form the Petrovice parish — Petrovice, Dobelice and Lesonice. They're a practical relic from a time when the villages took part in shared religious processions, each carrying its own emblem at the head of the group.

Where exactly is the church located?

The church stands in the center of Petrovice, a village in the South Moravian Region near Moravský Krumlov, within the Znojmo district. Its geographic coordinates are 49.0058 N, 16.2924 E.

Frequently asked questions

Is there more than one church with this name in Petrovice? The Czech Republic has several villages named Petrovice, and some of them have their own Church of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. When looking this one up, the key identifier is its location near Moravský Krumlov in the Znojmo district.

Did anything survive from the earlier church on this site? Not the building itself — only its foundations remain, visible at the edge of the park next to today's war memorial, which now occupies the older church's former location.

What does the shell casing embedded in the wall commemorate? It marks the artillery bombardment on the last day of the Second World War, during which the church tower was struck by a shell.

How many villages does the Petrovice parish serve? Three: Petrovice, Dobelice and Lesonice — their coats of arms appear on the processional poles preserved inside the church.