The Hus Congregational House, or Husův sbor, is a

Hussite The Hussites ( cs, Husité or ''Kališníci''; "Chalice People") were a Czech proto-Protestant Christian movement that followed the teachings of reformer Jan Hus, who became the best known representative of the Bohemian Reformation. The Hussit ...

church in Dykova Street in

Prague 10 Prague 10 is both a municipal and administrative district in Prague, Czech Republic with more than 100,000 inhabitants. Twin towns *Ballerup, Denmark *Prešov, Slovakia *Nyíregyháza, Hungary *Jasło, Poland Neighbourhood (cadastral communities) ...

. It was completed in 1935 as part of a multi-functional development by architect

Pavel Janák Pavel Janák (12 March 1881 in Karlín – 1 August 1956 in Prague-Dejvice) was a Czech modernist architect, furniture designer, town planner, professor and theoretician. Life Janák studied with Otto Wagner in Vienna between 1906 and 1908, and ...

in the constructivist style. The tall, six-storey minimalist tower and belfry carries a 700 kg copper chalice as a symbol of the Hussite Church. The tower was briefly used to create an alternative radio station during the

Prague uprising The Prague uprising ( cs, Pražské povstání) was a partially successful attempt by the Czech resistance movement to liberate the city of Prague from German occupation in May 1945, during the end of World War II. The preceding six years of o ...

in 1945.

History

The Hus Congregational House was built between 1930 and 1935 to architect

's constructivist design in Dykova Street in

for a Hussite congregation. The land near the old water works had been purchased in 1925, and the Church commissioned Janák to create a novel design for the church. Janak's first design in 1929 was accepted by the Church elders but rejected by the town planners. The following year's design included an apartment building, a theatre and a six-storey tower. By this time the symbolic foundation stone had been laid but work on the first real building did not start until 1 July 1932. Janak had previous experience of pre-stressed concrete as he had worked on the church in Vršovice, which was built in 1930.MANA Theatre presents
, husiti.cz, retrieved 14 November 2013 Fourteen months after this building was started the reinforced-concrete framed church held its first service and the building was delivered under budget.
, stovezata.praha.eu, retrieved 12 November 2013 The six-storey tower is just under 35 metres high and the top three floors incorporate bells. The design includes spiral staircases for the first three floors, while upper floors have ladders for access. The symbol of the Hussite Church, a copper chalice that weighs 700 kg and stands over two metres tall, was consecrated and installed on top of the tower in June 1933 in the "Celebration of the Goblet". In 1938 the design was reworked by Jiri Jakub. He converted the space under the church that had been designed as a theatre into a columbarium where funeral urns could be stored. Kohout, M., Slapeta, V., & Templ, S.
''Prague 20th Century Architecture''
(Vienna and New York:

Springer Verlag Springer Science+Business Media, commonly known as Springer, is a German multinational publishing company of books, e-books and peer-reviewed journals in science, humanities, technical and medical (STM) publishing. Originally founded in 1842 in ...

, 1999)
p. 103
The tower was used between 7 and 9 May 1945 as an impromptu radio tower during the

, when it sheltered

Czech resistance Resistance to the German occupation of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia during World War II began after the occupation of the rest of Czechoslovakia and the formation of the protectorate on 15 March 1939. German policy deterred acts of ...

fighters who were trying to evict the occupying German forces from the city.The Prague Vitruvius
Pragitecture.eu, originally retrieved 12 November 2013

Today

Inside the church is a 2.6-metre tall statue of Christ by Jan Znoj, which is surrounded by earthenware reliefs of the apostles and Czech heroes of the

Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...

. The reliefs continue into the foyer, where there is also a statue of Bishop

Jan Blahoslav Jan Blahoslav (20 February 1523 – 24 November 1571) was a Czech humanistic writer, poet, translator, etymologist, hymnographer, grammarian, music theorist and composer. He was a Unity of the Brethren bishop, and translated the New Testament in ...

by the sculptor

František Bílek František Bílek (6 November 1872, Chýnov – 13 October 1941, Chýnov) was a Czech sculptor and architect, in the Art Nouveau and Symbolist styles. Biography His father was a wheelwright. He graduated from primary school in Tábor, then wen ...

. The sculptural decorations are by Jaroslav Horejc. The church building is used for Hussite Church services, but it is also used for language courses, lectures and public exhibitions. The space below the chapel is still used as a

columbarium A columbarium (; pl. columbaria) is a structure for the reverential and usually public storage of funerary urns, holding cremated remains of the deceased. The term can also mean the nesting boxes of pigeons. The term comes from the Latin "'' colu ...

.Anděl, J., ''The new vision for the new architecture: Czechoslovakia, 1918-1938'' (

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

: Slovart Publishing, 2005). The rest of the building still includes clubrooms, a residential building and offices. The minimalist building has been described as "Protestant anti-baroque architecture in the extreme, dramatic ... but soulless".''Prague: A Cultural and Literary History''
Richard D. E. Burton,

References

{{Buildings in Prague 10 Churches in Prague 10 Hussites