Church of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, Baroque church in Žižkov district, Prague, Czech Republic.
The Church of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross is a single-nave baroque hall church built in 1717–1719 on Čajkovského Street in Žižkov. Its western entrance has a sandstone portal with a carved Latin dedication inscription in the tympanum. Since 1984 the former church has formed part of the Atrium concert and exhibition hall.
Built between 1717 and 1719 in baroque style, the church replaced an older New Town plague cemetery opened in 1680 and was funded after the plague epidemic of 1713–1716. In 1784 it became Žižkov's first parish church, but it ceased religious use in 1842, when the parish moved to St. Roch on Olšanské náměstí. After 1906 it served as a warehouse, and from 1979 to 1982 it was rebuilt as part of the Atrium cultural centre.
The deconsecrated church has served since 1984 as part of the Atrium concert and exhibition hall, which occupies the former church and its courtyard. The forecourt holds Jaroslav Bartoš's sandstone sculpture Poezie, a seated girl with a flower, and since 1991 a wire set of two chairs and a sofa; David Černý's Miminko stands on the hall's roof since 2020.
The former church stands in Čajkovského Street in Žižkov, now part of the Atrium concert and exhibition hall, entered from the paved piazzetta on its west side. The piazzetta holds a bench and Jaroslav Bartoš's sandstone statue Poezie, a seated girl with a flower, and since 1991 a wire set of two chairs and a sofa.
On the roof of the adjoining Atrium exhibition hall stands David Černý's sculpture Miminko (Baby), installed in 2020, while the western piazzetta holds Jaroslav Bartoš's sandstone Poezie, a seated girl with a flower. In 1957, construction of two new buildings on Čajkovského Street uncovered many skeletal remains from the former cemetery.
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