The Church of Beatified Restituta by Atelier Štěpán in Brno is a sacred space that seeks the sublime, through a balanced mix of hints to Catholic symbolism and to the experiences of contemporary art.
Architect Marek Jan Štěpán has occupied himself with the idea of this church intermittently for the past 30 years. However, the intention to build a church first came up in the relaxed atmosphere of 1968 and was finally fulfilled after 50 year.
Dedicated to nurse Maria Restituta Kafka, who was born around 600 metres from where the building now stands, the Church of Beatified Restituta completes the Brno-Lesná housing estate that was designed by Czech architects František Zounek and Viktor Rudiš in the 1960s. Church of Blessed Mary Restituta, has a striking, circular interior topped by a full rainbow of stained glass, a decidedly non-steeple-like tower, and a modern, concrete facade.
"In the baroque period, the church interior was completely covered with religious depictions. It served as a kind of comic book because the visitors were not able to read, so the life of Jesus and of the saints and the stories of the Old Testament were depicted in the church in various forms...Today, the situation is reversed, we live in the world full of easily accessible information, of visual and other sensations attacking us on every front, so the church should serve as a space for contemplation – a space stripped of superfluous visual, and other, sensations."
