The town of Sazovice, in the Czech Republic, has been waiting for a church for its community for years. After a committee was formed in 2011 things began to take shape and the delicate task of designing the church was entrusted to architect Marek Jan Štěpán.
St. Wenceslas Church is the latest jewel in the crown of Czech city Sazovice. For decades the community had complained that there was no church and began to organise in 2011 by forming a committee that chose architecture studio Atelier Štěpán to design the building.
After choosing the best place, a green bay in the heart of the city, Štěpán chose the perfect shape of a circle, a symbol of the divine and the infinite. The cylindrical outline of the church thus becomes the focal point of the whole town, at the crossroads of the main streets. "The church should influence people’s minds", says Štěpán, and whether this happens consciously or unconsciously, what is important is the relationship with the divine.
The interior of the church, like its facades, is bare, with sparse, minimalist decor. "In the past, churches were full of visual information", explains Štěpán, "to give illiterate people an idea of the life of Jesus. Today we are submerged by information". And this is why a religious space, a place of meditation, has a strong need to be reduced to the essential, to peace and introspection.
Francesco Cibati
Place: Sazovice, Czech Republic
Year: 2017
Architects: Marek Jan Štěpán / Atelier Štěpán – www.atelier-stepan.cz
Partners: František Brychta, Jan Martínek, Tomáš Jurák, Jan Vodička and Hana Kristková
Photos: Jakub Skokan and Martin Tůma / BoysPlayNice – www.boysplaynice.com
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