The Church of Jesus’ Heart
From the train station we direct ourselves right, down Nádražní street and then we go along Přiční street that constitutes its prolongation and we get to the former Archduke Albert Avenue (Masarykovy sady). What rises before us is The Church of Jesus’ Heart 24 Masarykovy sady
More than a hundred years after the annulment of the Jesuits in 1773 and the closing down of their monastery in Cieszyn, the representatives of that order from neighbouring Galicia decided to re-establish their premises on the Olza. They managed to make a Bishop from Wrocław, Georg Kopp, and Archduke Albert Habsburg warm to that idea. Thanks to their foundation a neo-gothic, one tower church was erected in 1891-1894, according to a design by the Viennese architect Ludwig Zatzk. Next to the church a presbytery and a house for the restored Jesuit monastery were built. Three plaques placed high in the chancel commemorate the foundation of the church. They are made of red marble. The one in the middle contains an inscription in Latin : ‘ IHS A.M.D.G. Hoc templum qum Georgii Kopp Eminentissimi ac Reverendissimi S.R.E. Cardinalis Celsissimique Principis Episcopi Vratislaviensis, nec non Albrechti Friderici Rudolphi Domino Austriae Archiducis praeclarissimi ducisque Tessinensis, munificentia sacerdotum populique Silesiam inhabitantium liberalitate, a P.P. Soc. Jesu exstructum. Leone XIII Pontifice maximo, Francisco Josepho I Austro Hungariae Imperatore, ab eodem Eminentissimo Cardinali consecratum est Anno Domini MDCCCXIV.’ (‘For the greater Glory of God this church was built thanks to Georg Kopp, the Highest and Reverend Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church and the celebrated Duke Bishop of Wrocław, and thanks to the philanthropy of Lord Albert Frederic Rudolph, Archduke of Austria and the celebrated Cieszyn Duke, as well as the high-mindedness of the priests and the people of Silesia and thanks to the fathers of the Jesuits’ Association. It was consecrated by the aforementioned Highest Cardinal in the pontificate of Leo XIIIth, in the reign of Franz Joseph I, the Emperor of Austro-Hungary in the year of Our Lord 1894’).
The hall church was built on the plan of the Latin cross. Cross ribbed vaults in the main aisle were supported by four solid pillars. The main altar, the side altars, as well as the organ were built in the neo-gothic style and made by the sculpting firm Stuflesser from St. Ulrich in Tyrol. The windows were embellished with stained glass and the walls with numerous paintings in the Gothic spirit. Since 1904 the relics of St. Melchior Grodziecki, who was born in Cieszyn, have been in the church. After the division of Cieszyn in 1920 the church became the main Catholic sanctuary in Czech Cieszyn.
Photographs: Dominik Dubiel, Paweł Halama, Daniel Hryciuk, Magdalena Jańczuk, Renata Karpińska, Mariusz Makowski, Joanna Rzepka-Dziedzic, Anna Szostok-Fedrizzi, Henryk Tesarczyk
Translation from Polish: Lucyna Krzanowska and John Whitewood
Reproductions of exhibits, documents and photographs from the collections of:
- Museum of Cieszyn Silesia in Cieszyn,
- Cieszyn Historical Library,
- Cieszyn Branch of the State Archive in Katowice,
- Cieszyn Town Council,
- Museum of Beskidy in Frýdek-Mistek,
- private collection of Mariusz Makowski
- H. Wawreczka, J. Spyra, M. Makowski, ‘Cieszyn i Czeski Cieszyn na starych widokówkach i fotografiach’, WART, Nebory 1999