The re-Gothicization of the Church of the Holy Spirit was one of the few major building projects started and/or completed in the old town of Hradec Králové at the turn of the century. In 1898, only two elevated houses in the Neo-Renaissance style were built in the northern front of Velké náměstí Square on the corner with Špitálská Street and the local brewery’s malt house was completed. The new helmets on the church towers were by far the most visible change in the cityscape, which was getting ready for architectural modernism and a turbulent era of development after the abolition of the fortress walls. From the second half of the 18th century, the medieval church experienced difficult times, when ‘it was withering more and more. Its exterior and interior were sadly moving and powerfully asked for appropriate renewal.’ [1]
Therefore, in 1863, Bishop Karel Borromeo Hanl announced a collection, and in 13 months, he managed to collect enough funds to start the restoration of the church, which would unify its Gothic character. The design to renovate the building and shed its Classicist features was created by architect František Schmoranz, who also managed all the restoration work. The first stage, with an interruption due to the Austro-Prussian War, lasted until 1870. In addition to the interior modifications, the walled-up Gothic windows were broken again, the bishop’s oratory was built, and the presbytery modified, among other things by restoring the southern entrance and laying mosaic pavement. The naves of the church were also restored and the choir annexes removed, while the choir loft was equipped with a new outdoor staircase.
In the next phase in 1874, the reconstruction of the western façade took place; a steep decorative gable made of bricks topped with a stone cross and two supporting pillars with Gothic pinnacles were added to it. In 1876, the surrounding terrain of the abolished cemetery was lowered and the church shone in its ‘original form, rejuvenated by the spirit of our art-loving time. Inside and outside in the Gothic style, everything is precisely and beautifully restored except for the two decrepit towers with inadequate roofs call for the desired restoration.’ [2] Various variants of the renovation of the towers had already been prepared by Schmoranz, but apparently due to a lack of finances, they remained only on paper. This task was definitively taken up in 1898 by Ludvík Lábler, who was then permanently active in Kutná Hora. As a supporter of traditional conservation practices, he participated in the purist reconstruction of a number of medieval buildings, including the reconstruction of the Church of St. Barbara on which he collaborated with Josef Mocker. At the Hradec Králové church, he had the old roofing replaced with copper plating. The ends of both towers were raised to the form of a chisel roof with chamfered corners and supplemented with a gallery with tracery railings and corner turrets. The details of the finials and spikes are gold-plated. The neo-Gothic appearance of the towers was approved in 1900, and a year later, the long-term purist restoration of the church was completed.
MP
Notes:
[1] KALAŠ, Václav. Kathedrální kostel svatého Ducha v Hradci Králové. Hradec Králové. Hradec Králové: 1896, p. 49.
[2] Ibid., p. 50.
Literature
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HRUBÝ, Vladimír, NĚMEČEK, Jiří a kol. Chrám Svatého Ducha v životě města a v proměnách času: Katedrála a její sousedé. Hradec Králové: 2008.
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KALAŠ, Václav. Kathedrální kostel svatého Ducha v Hradci Králové. Hradec Králové: 1896, s. 49.
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Obnova kathedrálního chrámu sv. Ducha v Hradci Králové r. 1898. Method, 1899, roč. 25, č. 1–2, 3–4, s. 11–16, 28–32.
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POCHE, Emanuel (ed.). Umělecké památky Čech 1, A–J. Praha: 1977, s. 451–454.