St. Wenceslas Church - Prague, Czechia
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ashberry
N 50° 04.141 E 014° 27.557
33U E 461303 N 5546444
The tower of the church of St. Wenceslas in Prague-Vršovice 56 m high.
Waymark Code: WM14BVZ
Location: Hlavní město Praha, Czechia
Date Posted: 06/07/2021
Views: 18
Church of St. Wenceslas on the main square in Vršovice is an extremely impressive building. In the first place, the high prismatic tower with a massive Latin cross on top captures the attention. The church is an example of a modern building from the first third of the last century, the architect Gocár abandoned the experienced stereotypes according to which new churches were built 20 years ago.
"The Church of St. Wenceslas is a Roman Catholic parish church built in 1929–1930 in the style of constructivism. The three-aisled reinforced concrete church was built according to the project of the architect Josef Gocár. The building is located on Svatopluk Cech Square in Prague-Vršovice. It is considered by experts to be one of the most successful functionalist church buildings in the Czech Republic.
The main entrance to the nave is in three parts. The semicircular chancel closes the three-nave building. The longitudinal floor plan narrows slightly towards the main altar and the intensity of the light towards it gradually increases. The chancel and side aisles are illuminated by wide windows. Thanks to the reinforced concrete structure, the side ships did not have to be separated from the main one by means of columns. The large cross on the main altar was created by Cenek Vosmík. Josef Kaplický designed a window with stained glass at the end of the presbytery. It depicts St. Wenceslas on horseback, his servant Podiven and Radslav Zlický. The author of the left side altar of the Virgin Mary is Karel Pokorný. Opposite it is the altar of the Heart of the Lord by Josef Kubícek. In the right side nave is the altar of St. Josef by the same author. The relief on the Altar of the Czech Patrons, located in the right side nave, was created by Cenek Vosmík. The Stations of the Cross from the marl lining the wall is the work of Bedrich Stefan. In the sixties and nineties, the church was repainted. In 1987, the presbytery (chancel) was supplemented by an altar located towards the people. Behind the chancel is a chapel, accessible by a side entrance. The building has a sacristy, a singing room and a library.
A prismatic tower rises to a height of 56 meters above the vestibule. Its front wall is glazed with luxfers. The tower has a bell tower, which was equipped with five bells in 1930 (Marie, Ludmila, Vojtech, Václav and passing-bell). However, the bells cast by Rudolf Perner were requisitioned during World War II. Two new bells (Václav and Ludmila) were installed here only in 1995. Their creator is the Dytrych family from Brodek near Prerov. The top of the tower is fitted with a large yellow opaxite cross illuminated at night. In the lower part of the tower there is a space where, according to the original design, the statue of St. Wenceslas was to be located. It was not installed on the tower until September 28, 2010. The original design of the statue of St. Wenceslas was created in 1929 by Bedrich Stefan. The life form of the sculpture according to the model was created by the academic sculptor Jan Roith, who thus actually became its rightful co-author. The production of the statue and its location was paid for by the city district of Prague 10."
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