Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus
From Prague-wiki
The Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (Kostel Nejsvětějšího srdce Páně in Czech) is the most important church building of the 20th century in the Czech lands. It is located in the district Vinohrady on náměstí Jiřího z Poděbrad (King George of Poděbrady Square) close to Jiřího z Poděbrad metro station.
The work of an excellent Slovene architect Josip Plečnik (1872-1957) was not only restricted to the design works on the Prague Castle and its gardens or to the works on the residence of the president T. G. Masaryk, Lány Castle. He also designed a monumental religious building of the parish church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. His design proposal was the winner amongst 31 other proposals, part of a tender organized in 1919, but the original design project was revised due to financial reasons.
The construction of this building was initiated on 19 August 1929 by P. Method Zaoral, Abbot of Strahov Monastery. The consecration of the sanctuary was carried out by Karel Kašpar, Archbishop Cardinal of Prague, on 8th May 1932.
The church’s façade is made of glazed bricks and artificial granite. The aisle of the church has a measurement of 38m x 26m and a 13m high compartment ceiling. The interior of the church has facing of fair-faced bricks of a high quality, with some valuable works of art. One of them is a sculpture of Jesus, which was made of basswood and is 3.15 metres in height, situated above the altar. There are also sculptures of the patron saints of Bohemia: St. John of Nepomuk, St. Agnes, St. Adalbert, St. Wenceslaus, St. Ludmila and St. Procopius. They are a work of sculptor Damian Pešan.
The tower, which is 42 metres in height and has two suspended bells, is a dominating feature of this building. It has an oblong ground plan of 22m x 4.5m and takes up the whole width of the church. In its lower part the tower narrows slightly and then broadens out further up. The top of the tower is extended with a structure with gallery and gable (similar to an antique style feature). The tower is crowned with a copper dome (3 metres in diameter) with a 4 metres tall cross. The side of the tower features tall slim pylons. In its wider parts the tower has a large round window (6 metres in diameter), which was installed at the same time as the tower clocks. These clocks are the biggest of its kind in the entire Central Europe.
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