Church of the Sacred Heart : Joze Plecnik

Slovenian architect Joze Plecnik has re-emerged as a key representative of the Modern Movement, yet his work also embraces historical elements.

This book looks at his Church of the Sacred Heart which dominates a quiet green square of the Vinohrady quarter in Prague, securely anchoring the borough into Prague's panorama with its prescence.

It is a characteristic of Plecnik work, synthesizing classical and traditional Slovenian elements.

Externally the Church is enclosed by dark brown brickwork decorated at regular intervals with vertical rectangular slabs of grey granite, while above the brick wall a totally different architecture of classical proportions appears, faced, by contrast, in white render.

The massive, 42 metre high belfry further adds to the contradictory nature of the Church, while the simple interior is illuminated by light flooding through the Church's stained-glass clerestory windows.