The Church of St. Elizabeth ( sk, Kostol svätej Alžbety, hu, Szent Erzsébet templom), commonly known as Blue Church (''Modrý kostolík'', ''Kék templom''), is a Hungarian-Secessionist (Jugendstil, Art Nouveau) Catholic church located in the eastern part of the Old Town in Bratislava, present day

Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the s ...

. It is consecrated to

Elisabeth of Hungary Elizabeth of Hungary (german: Heilige Elisabeth von Thüringen, hu, Árpád-házi Szent Erzsébet, sk, Svätá Alžbeta Uhorská; 7 July 1207 – 17 November 1231), also known as Saint Elizabeth of Thuringia, or Saint Elisabeth of Thuringia, ...

, daughter of Andrew II, who grew up in the Pressburg Castle ''(Pozsonyi vár)''. It is referred to as "The Little Blue Church" because of the colour of its

façade A façade () (also written facade) is generally the front part or exterior of a building. It is a loan word from the French (), which means ' frontage' or ' face'. In architecture, the façade of a building is often the most important aspect ...

mosaic A mosaic is a pattern or image made of small regular or irregular pieces of colored stone, glass or ceramic, held in place by plaster/mortar, and covering a surface. Mosaics are often used as floor and wall decoration, and were particularly pop ...

s, majolicas and blue-glazed roof. It was initially part of the neighboring gymnázium (high school) and served as the school chapel.

Architecture

The one-nave church was built in 1908-1913, four years after the plans of

Ödön Lechner Ödön Lechner (born Eugen Lechner, 27 August 1845 – 10 June 1914) was a Hungarian architect, one of the prime representatives of the Hungarian Szecesszió style, which was related to Art Nouveau in the rest of Europe, including the Vienna ...

to build a church in the Hungarian Art Nouveau style. The so-called Hungarian secessionist style forms dominate in the church. Lechner also drew plans of the neighbouring gymnázium (high school) and of the vicarage (also in the Hungarian Secessionist style). The ground floor of the church is oval. In the foreground there is a 36.8 metre high cylindrical church tower. At first, a

cupola In architecture, a cupola () is a relatively small, most often dome-like, tall structure on top of a building. Often used to provide a lookout or to admit light and air, it usually crowns a larger roof or dome. The word derives, via Italian, fro ...

was planned, but was never constructed; instead, a barrel vault was built, topped by a

hip roof A hip roof, hip-roof or hipped roof, is a type of roof where all sides slope downwards to the walls, usually with a fairly gentle slope (although a tented roof by definition is a hipped roof with steeply pitched slopes rising to a peak). Thus, ...

. The roof is covered with glazed bricks with decoration, for the purpose of parting. The main and side entrances are enclosed with Romanesque double-pillars, which have an Oriental feeling. Pillars are also located near the windows. The façade was at first painted with light pastel colours. Later the church got its characteristic blue colour. A line of blue tiles and wave-strip encircles the church.

Interior

The interior is richly decorated with altarpieces. On the

altar An altar is a table or platform for the presentation of religious offerings, for sacrifices, or for other ritualistic purposes. Altars are found at shrines, temples, churches, and other places of worship. They are used particularly in paga ...

there is an illustration of St Elizabeth, depicted giving alms to the poor. A model of the church is in

Mini-Europe Mini-Europe is a miniature park located in ''Bruparck'', at the foot of the Atomium, in Brussels, Belgium. Mini-Europe has reproductions of monuments in the European Union and other countries within the continent of Europe on display, at a scale o ...

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

, representing Slovakia.

References

*''Part of the information in this article is based on its German equivalent.'' * {{Authority control Roman Catholic churches in Bratislava 20th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Slovakia Art Nouveau architecture in Slovakia Art Nouveau church buildings 1908 establishments in Austria-Hungary

Architecture

Interior

See also

References