Mausoleum

In October 1929 the Dutch government decided to donate the Walloon church at Naarden, containing the grave of Jan Amos Comenius, to the Czechoslovak state. Responsibility for drawing up an overall design for the refitting of the church interior was entrusted to the architect Ladislav Machoň, who from the very beginning collaborated on the project with the painter Jaroslav Benda as well as the sculptors Jaroslav Horejc and Karel Štipl. Benda’s work on the banner screen around the choir, within which lie Comenius’ remains, present scenes from Comenius’ life. The glass screen shows Comenius’ life in a series of pictures accompanied by appropriate captions and dates.

Eight of Horejc’s sculptures on the metal grille around Comenius’ grave depict not only the theme of his departure from his homeland but also further scenes from his life: Comenius’ work as rector of the Brethren congregation, as a school teacher and father of a family in Fulnek (1618); his meeting with Oxenstierna in Sweden (1642); the fire at Leszno (1656); Comenius’ time at Brandýs nad Orlicí after the Battle of White Mountain (1623); his arrival in England (1641); his Reformist efforts at Sárospatak (1650); and his death in 1670. Copies of these sculptures are kept at the Comenius Museum in Uherský Brod and at Přerov.