Wendish-German double church
A new church made of bricks was erected on the old foundations, most likely after the end of the Thirty Years' War.
A chapel was added on the northern side, which was used by the local German lords during religious services.
Over time, the percentage of Germans in the town of Vetschau increased, while the surrounding countryside remained largely dominated by the Wends.
The German townsfolk sought to distinguish themselves from the rural Wendish population, including in their religion.
The order was given to tear down the chapel and to replace it with a proper church for the growing German-speaking congregation.
The vestry, which was built with a double groin vault, was probably erected at the same time as the German church.
An octagonal extension in brick was erected on top of the remains of the square tower base using trusses.
An upright Star of Bethlehem placed over a procumbent half moon was added to the very top of the tower to mark the defeat of the advancing Ottoman Empire.
Because the galleries blocked the access of light into the church, a half-rounded window was made where the altar now stands.
The German church was painted at this time in the neo-gothic style, which replaced its original late Baroque colours.
It was used to store parts of the Pritzen town church which had had to make way for a brown coal surface mine.
One exhibition recalls the churches that were destroyed in the region to make space for brown coal surface mines.
The first, for an E. von Schlieben who died in 1668 is in the northern half of the eastern gable and is surrounded by a frame designed to look like acanthus.
The wooden pulpit on the northern wall features a roof in the form of a crown which is topped by an angel with a trumpet.
To the left of the altar is a baptismal font from the 13th century, originally from the church of Schönfeld, one of many villages in the area which were destroyed to make way for brown coal surface mining.
On the steeple, a plaque honours the memory of the lower Sorbian poet Hans Bock, who was born in Vetschau in 1569.
In his work Die Lebensuhr des Gottlieb Grambauer, Ehm Welk recounts a tale that he had been told by his father Gottfried and that takes place in the double church in 1866:
