Cerhovice: St. Martin’s Church, Observation Tower and Historic Buildings

Cerhovice offers travelers several specific highlights for a stay: St. Martin’s Church, with its Gothic and Baroque features; the observation tower; and funerary and memorial architecture. If you’re looking for a hotel for your stay in Cerhovice, you can first consider whether churches, climbing the tower or stone details will shape your plans. The different places appeal to different interests, without requiring a set itinerary.

St. Martin’s Church

The church stands in the middle of Cerhovice’s market square, on the Beroun–Plzeň highway. The present church dates from the 15th century and was later remodeled in the Baroque style. It is a single-nave, rectangular building, with a Gothic polygonal presbytery and a tower adjoining the south side of the nave. “Single-nave” describes the church’s basic layout; “polygonal” refers to the presbytery’s multi-sided ground plan. This makes it possible to consider the basic layout and architectural divisions separately, without reducing the church to a single stylistic label.

The site also includes a Late Baroque statue of St. John of Nepomuk, located east of the presbytery. The statue’s location and the church tower adjoining the south side of the nave are two distinct details of the church grounds: one is located east of the presbytery, while the other is part of the building on the south side of the nave. For those interested in religious architecture, St. Martin’s brings together its layout, history of alteration and additional sculptural decoration.

Observation Tower and Getting There

The tower’s observation platform is 20 meters high and reached by 108 steps. The tower is freely accessible year-round; it is advisable to confirm locally before traveling. Its height and the number of steps provide concrete details to help you plan the climb. If you plan to visit the tower, take the stairs into account and confirm access before setting out.

By car, take exit 41 from the D5, then drive through the settlement of Třenice and along Letná Street. Road conditions and access regulations may change, so it is advisable to confirm the route locally before traveling. Cerhovice railway station is about 2.5 kilometers on foot from the observation tower. You can take this approximate walking distance into account when planning the trip between arriving at the station and visiting the tower.

Funerary and Memorial Architecture

The Röthlingshöfer family tomb stands in the Cerhovice cemetery, near the center of the western cemetery wall. It consists of a sandstone stele, two lower sandstone wings and a large granite tomb slab. The materials are clearly assigned to each element: the stele and wings are made of sandstone, while the large slab is granite. The different heights of the elements and the contrast in materials give the structure its distinctive architectural layout.

The railway accident memorial stands in a park laid out on the site of the former, disused Cerhovice cemetery. It is made mainly of reddish-brown arkose sandstone; its more elaborate finials are made of Mšeno sandstone. Finials are slender, upright decorative elements. This distinguishes the memorial’s main material from the special stone used for its more elaborately designed parts. The park’s location on the former cemetery grounds has a different historical connection to the area than the cemetery where the family tomb stands.

Chapel of the Virgin Mary

The Chapel of the Virgin Mary stands in the middle of Cerhovice village square. Together with St. Martin’s Church on the market square, it offers another landmark for travelers who want to take religious buildings and their location in the town into account when planning their visit. When choosing where to stay, you can therefore consider the church architecture and the stone tombs and memorials, as well as the climb to the observation tower.

Discover More Destinations

Discover more destinations: Broumy, Zadní Treban, Tmaň, Hořovice, Hředle, Měňany, Libomyšl, Jivina

For the broader travel overview: Okres Beroun.