St. Hedwig Church

When the town cemetery between Hany Kvapilové Street and Bochenkova Street was closed in 1891 after it had been in use for almost a hundred years when the old cemetery was moved from the area of today’s theatre in Horní Square, a debate arose how to utilize the space. Three years after the debate had started, the consistorial councillor and teacher Johann Eichler came with the idea to build a simple Gothic church dedicated to St. Hedwig, the patroness of Silesia. He set up a fund to finance the construction as well as operation of the church and donated securities in the value of five thousand guilders. However, the construction was realised thirty years later under different circumstances.

As many soliders from the West Silesia died in World War I, a decision was made to make the church a memorial of the fallen soldiers. In 1927 a competition was announced by a board representing outsanding personalities of Silesia for designs of a new church. One of the conditions of the competition was that the architect must either come from Silesia or have a permanent residence there. The winning design was a project submitted in 1932 by a native from Krnov, important Viennese architect, and one of the founders of Vienna Secession, Leopold Bauer, who had already designed prominent buildings in Opava, such as the Department Store Breda & Weinstein, or the building of the Chamber of Business and Commerce, today Petr Bezruč Culture House. The foundation stone was laid a year later and by the end of the same year a rough construction was finished. The interior took several years to complete, the building was finished in 1937. It is assumed that the construction delays were caused by troubles with finances.

The church has the floor design of a Latin cross with side chapels as the beams. The church has a 54 meters high tower with a baldachin and cross. Reinforced concerete pillars segment the tower as well as the facade, which is further decorated with a Latin quote from Missa Solemnis by Ludwig van Beethoven. Bauer’s “musical” concept of the building is reflected also in the colour scheme. The side chapel commemorating the fallen Silesian soldiers is painted in dark blue, purple and black, which is a direct reference to Beethoven’s funeral march. The metal bar separating the nave from the hall also carries a musical motive. Simple crosses on the bar made by Ludwig Blucha, a metalsmith from Opava, evoke a military cemetery. The interior was decorated by local artists in order to emphasise the local dimension of the building, and also to give the artists a job opportunity. The main altar, which carries ten reliefs from the life of St. Hedwig, was made by Helena Scholzová-Železná, a daughter of the writer Marie Stona. The triptych above the altar was painted by Paul Gebauer. The paintings depict the the Resurrection of Christ lined on both sides by the Twelve Apostles. The arch above the main altar is vaulted, unlike the side chapels, and it is decorated with a painting of the Holy Trinity with adoring angels by Gebauer. In the side chapels there are paintings of St. Hedwig and a fresco of Virgin Mary as the queen of heaven. In one of the chapels and on the walls by the entrance to the church there used to be paintings by another local artist, Adolf Zdrazila.

Ironically, this church devoted to the memory of World War I fallen soldiers was completed not long before World War II started. And so the building was not used as it was intended, but it turned into a military storehouse with Luftwaffe using the church tower as a lookout. There was a cross on top of the tower which was destroyed during air raids at the end of the war. After the war a reconstruction was commenced, but the church once again did not serve its original purpose. Instead it was used as a storehouse for medical equipment. Three wooden floors and a lift were incorporated in the construction to fit the new purpose. The long-awaited change came after November 1989 when the church underwent a series of reconstructions to make it fit for spiritual purposes. The church was consecrated in 1993 on the 750th anniversary of St. Hedwig’s death with a papal nuncio attending the ceremony. The church’s long journey to completion came to an end in 1999 when a replica of the destroyed cross was erected on top of the tower.