Svatý Martin (starý)

The old Church of Saint Martin once stood in the village of Rusová, now part of the Kryštofovy Hamry municipality in the Krušné hory (Ore Mountains), close to the road linking Vejprty and Výsluní. This was the Gothic parish church of the small mountain settlement — the building that served Rusová's community for generations before being replaced in 1939 by a new church built elsewhere in the village. Rusová itself vanished from the map decades later, once its land fell inside the protection zone of the Přísečnice reservoir.

Where exactly did the church stand?

The building stood within the former village of Rusová, in what is today the Kryštofovy Hamry municipality in the Chomutov district. The setting is typical of the Krušné hory: gentle upland terrain dotted with former mining and farming hamlets, many of which did not survive the 20th century. No trace of the village's buildings remains visible above ground today, and the same is true of the old church itself.

How did it differ from the new church in Rusová?

It was an earlier, separate building from the one that replaced it in 1939 roughly two hundred meters away. The old Gothic Church of Saint Martin represented a much older phase of the village's religious architecture — at some point it was judged inadequate or too deteriorated, since the community chose to erect an entirely new church under the same dedication rather than repair the existing one. That new church itself only lasted a few decades: it was torn down in 1971, when the former Rusová had to be cleared because its land lay within the protection zone of the Přísečnice reservoir then under construction.

Can any trace of the old church be seen today?

No visible remains of this particular building survive. Once it was superseded by the new church in 1939, the old structure ceased to serve the parish and was not preserved as a ruin or as foundations open to visitors. That sets it apart from the newer 1939 church built nearby, whose exposed foundations can still be found today beside the road connecting route 244 with the road from Vejprty to Výsluní. The site of the old Church of Saint Martin is best understood as a point on the map of a vanished village's history rather than a destination with standing remains.

Why did the village of Rusová disappear in the first place?

Rusová shared the fate of many settlements in the Krušné hory that gave way in the second half of the 20th century to water-management projects and the resettlement of the postwar border population. Building the Přísečnice reservoir required a wide protection zone that extended well beyond the area actually flooded — and it was this zone that swallowed up the former Rusová along with its newer church, demolished in 1971.

Frequently asked questions

Where was the old Church of Saint Martin located? In the village of Rusová, now part of the Kryštofovy Hamry municipality in the Chomutov district, at coordinates 50.4530411, 13.1623225.

What kind of church was it? Rusová's Gothic parish church, older than the building that replaced it in 1939 at a different spot in the same village.

Has anything of it survived? No — after being replaced by the new church in 1939, the building did not survive to the present as a visible ruin or foundation.

Why did the village of Rusová disappear? Because its land ended up inside the protection zone of the Přísečnice reservoir, which led to the demolition of the village's buildings, including its newer church, in 1971.