Church of Saint Anthony of Padua in Ruprechtice, Gothic Revival church in Liberec XIV-Ruprechtice, Czech Republic
The Church of Saint Anthony of Padua is a single-nave Gothic Revival building with buttresses and pointed windows, a polygonal presbytery and a transept with a square tower 47 metres high. A arcade passage links it to the parish house built at the same time.
The Ruprechtice church-building association collected funds from the late 19th century, when the village and its surroundings had nearly four thousand mostly Catholic inhabitants around 1900. The Liberec office of Max Kühn and Heinrich Fanta designed the church, built 1908–1910 on a hill south of the emerging square; Bishop Josef Gross consecrated it on 18 September 1910. From 1960 to 1992 the nave held steel shelving and a lift as a district archive depot, and Bishop Josef Koukl reconsecrated the restored church on 12 June 1994.
The church is dedicated to Saint Anthony of Padua, whose feast day is 13 June. Since 1990 the Ruprechtice parish has been administered by Franciscans, the order to which the saint belonged. In 2022 the city awarded posthumous honorary citizenship to the Franciscan Antonín Pavel Kejdana in this church for his care of its upkeep.
The church is located on Markova Street in the Liberec XIV-Ruprechtice district and falls under the Roman Catholic Diocese of Litoměřice. Visitors can attend services during regular worship times or view the building's exterior features and design.
The church tower reaches 47 metres, and the building is not to be confused with Liberec's other St. Anthony's Church, which is dedicated to Anthony the Great. On 3 January 2022 the city awarded honorary citizenship posthumously to the Franciscan Antonín Pavel Kejdana, who had cared for the church's upkeep.
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