Church of the Sacred Heart, Neo-Gothic church in Trnovany, Czech Republic
The Church of the Sacred Heart is a three-nave Neo-Gothic basilica with a transept, built of red exposed brick with sandstone trim. Its single square bell tower rises 47 metres above the south facade; the church is about 48 metres long and 20–25 metres wide, with a polygonal chancel to the north.
A church-building association began collecting funds in 1895 and had Rudolf Zahn draft a Neo-Romanesque design in 1900, but Gustav Jirsch's Neo-Gothic project was built instead. Construction ran from 7 December 1907 to the consecration on 24 December 1909; the tower followed in 1910 and the interior was finished only in 1934 with Alfred Böhm's biblical paintings.
The nickname Červený kostel comes from the red ceramic cladding of the walls. The church was built partly so Trnovany could be raised to town status in 1910, and the stained-glass windows carry the names of donors at their base.
The church stands on Masarykova Street in Trnovany, where the former village square once lay; the presbytery faces north, so the 47-metre tower fronts the southern entrance. The nave is about 48 metres long and 20 to 25 metres wide, with the tower's sandstone portal as the way in.
The red colour comes not from brick but from ceramic tiles cladding the exterior, which gave the church its popular name Červený kostel. The 47-metre tower was finished only in 1910, a year after the consecration, because funds ran short.
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