Basilika of St. Ludmila, Neo-Gothic church in Vinohrady, Czech Republic.
The Basilica of St. Ludmila is a brick three-aisled Neo-Gothic church with a transept at Náměstí Míru. Its western facade has two 60.5-metre towers with octagonal spires, a rose window, and a recessed portal; the tympanum relief by Josef Václav Myslbek shows Christ between St. Ludmila and St. Wenceslas.
Vinohrady became a city in 1879, and after its population passed 15,000 in 1881 the mayor Vilém Vlček pushed for a parish church; the parish was registered on 1 November 1884. The foundation stone was laid on 25 November 1888 and Josef Mocker's plans were built until 1892, with František Mikš supervising on site. Archbishop Cardinal František Schönborn consecrated the church on 8 October 1893, at a total cost of 369,922 Austrian gulden.
The parish hosts an annual September celebration for its patron saint; in 2024 it marked 140 years since the parish was registered and awarded the "Šál sv. Ludmily" to Cardinal Dominik Duka. The square in front hosts Christmas and Easter fairs and open-air concerts.
The church stands on Náměstí Míru, reached by metro line A at Náměstí Míru station and by trams along Jugoslávská street. The building was closed from 1974 to 1992, first for metro construction and then for reconstruction, and reopened on 16 September 1992. Christmas and Easter fairs and open-air concerts take place on the square in front.
The organ, built by Emanuel Štěpán Petr in 1898 as opus 117, stands in a carved oak neo-Gothic cabinet on the main choir. Its original tin pipes survived the 1917 wartime requisition of precious metals; after disuse from 2013 to 2018 it was restored through a public collection and a sponsorship gift.
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