Cathedral of the Divine Saviour ( cs, Katedrála Božského Spasitele), located in the center of

Ostrava Ostrava (; pl, Ostrawa; german: Ostrau ) is a city in the north-east of the Czech Republic, and the capital of the Moravian-Silesian Region. It has about 280,000 inhabitants. It lies from the border with Poland, at the confluences of four rive ...

, is the second largest

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

cathedral A cathedral is a church that contains the '' cathedra'' () of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denomination ...

Moravia Moravia ( , also , ; cs, Morava ; german: link=yes, Mähren ; pl, Morawy ; szl, Morawa; la, Moravia) is a historical region in the east of the Czech Republic and one of three historical Czech lands, with Bohemia and Czech Silesia. The me ...

and

Silesia Silesia (, also , ) is a historical region of Central Europe that lies mostly within Poland, with small parts in the Czech Republic and Germany. Its area is approximately , and the population is estimated at around 8,000,000. Silesia is split ...

(after the basilica in

Velehrad Velehrad is a municipality and village in Uherské Hradiště District in the Zlín Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 1,100 inhabitants. It is known as a pilgrimage site. Geography Most of the municipality lies in the Chřiby highlands. ...

near

Uherské Hradiště Uherské Hradiště (; german: Ungarisch Hradisch, hu, Magyarhradis) is a town in the Zlín Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 24,000 inhabitants. The agglomeration with the two neighbouring towns of Staré Město and Kunovice has over ...

). This three-nave

Neo-Renaissance Renaissance Revival architecture (sometimes referred to as "Neo-Renaissance") is a group of 19th century architectural revival styles which were neither Greek Revival nor Gothic Revival but which instead drew inspiration from a wide range o ...

basilica with a semi-circular apse and two 67m high towers is dating since 1889 (building started in 1883). The church was designed by Gustav Meretta, the official architect of the

Archbishop of Olomouc The following is a list of diocesan bishops and archbishops of Olomouc. Not much is known about the beginnings of the Diocese of Olomouc. It was reestablished in 1063 and in 1777 it was elevated to an archdiocese. Bishops of Olomouc *''89 ...

, and the interior by Max von Ferstel. The main nave is 14 m wide and 22 m high, the two side aisles are 7 m wide and 10 m high each. The

seating capacity Seating capacity is the number of people who can be seated in a specific space, in terms of both the physical space available, and limitations set by law. Seating capacity can be used in the description of anything ranging from an automobile that ...

of the cathedral is 4,000 people. On May 30, 1996

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

established the

Diocese of Ostrava-Opava The Roman Catholic Diocese of Ostrava-Opava ( la, Ostravien(sis)-Opavien(sis) ) is a suffragan Latin diocese in the Ecclesiastical province of the Archdiocese of Olomouc in Moravskoslezský kraj, Moravia, in the Czech Republic. The cathedral epi ...

, and soon after the basilica has been dignified into a cathedral. In 1998, a new neo-Baroque organ was installed.

History

On 23 May 1871 the city council spoke about the intention of building a new parish church, which would eventually replace the old parish church of St Wenceslas. The old church could not contain the increasing number of believers and failed to comply with official requirements for public buildings. After a fire inspection took place on 2 January 1882, the district marshal in Místek decided to build a new church. Thus, at a council meeting on 5 October 1882 the agreements for the construction of a new parish church were done. The foundation stone was laid by Mayor Anton Lux and the Reverend Josef Spurný on October 4, 1883. AT that time church committees were competing in

which was established under provincial laws dating from 1864 and 1874. It was the supervisory and executive bodies, which were often the purchaser of furniture projects and new churches, significantly encroached into their final form. Their arguments focused, in particular, on situations where the parish volume was small. The church of the Divine Saviour would serve 4 municipalities which, upon its construction, should contribute a proportionate financial amount. However these villages managed their own parish church and, therefore Ostravanians' contributions to the construction of the church were often the cause of discord. Other financial flow was rather paradoxical. The

Archdiocese of Olomouc The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Olomouc ( cs, Arcidiecéze olomoucká, la, Archidioecesis Olomucensis) is a metropolitan archdiocese of the Latin Rite of the Catholic Church in the Czech Republic. It has its seat in Olomouc. Special churches ...

, who took patronage of the church, was obliged, by patronage law, to pay a third of construction costs, worth just under 33,000 florins. Contributions also flowed in from Jewish entrepreneurs, like Baron Rotschild and the Gutmannové brothers.

History

See also