The Church of St. Ludmila is a Roman Catholic church on Náměstí Míru in the Vinohrady district of Prague. It is a Neo-Gothic building from 1887 to 1893, designed by the architect Josef Mocker, and in 2022 it was elevated to a minor basilica.[1]
Origins
Royal Vinohrady became a town in 1879. A separate parish administration was established by a decree of 31 October 1884. Until then Masses were held in a school chapel in what is today Belgická Street. The town founded its own cemetery in 1885. Representatives of the municipality wanted to build a spacious church on the main square, then Purkyně Square and today Náměstí Míru, which would represent the municipality. In 1884 the building site was occupied by rye fields, later by a circus and a menagerie.[1]
The design of the parish church by Josef Mocker, the completer of St. Vitus Cathedral, was approved on 8 November 1888. The foundation stone was laid on 25 November 1888, and construction then progressed quickly. In 1892 Emperor Franz Joseph I visited the building site, and the Cabinet Office in Vienna also contributed to the church. The solemn consecration took place on 8 October 1893, with the Archbishop of Prague, Cardinal František de Paula Schönborn, as the principal consecrator, together with two bishops. The church is dedicated to Ludmila of Bohemia, and its interior was also completed later.[1]
Minor basilica
The Roman Catholic parish at St. Ludmila announced on 11 August 2022 that Pope Francis had elevated the church to a minor basilica in July 2022 and had granted it this honorary title.[1]
Nativity scene
The church contains a nativity scene that was created gradually between 1910 and 1925 and is the work of two Czech art workshops. Its basis consists of the main figures, that is, the Holy Family, the angel and the Three Kings as well as some of the donors, together with the stable and the background. This part was made between 1910 and 1914 by the woodcarver František Vratislav Buk (1855–1927) from New Town.[1]
At the beginning of the 1920s the nativity scene was extended by a large group of donor figures and a flock of sheep with a ram, produced by the firm of František Charvát (1886–1954) from Kutná Hora. The nativity scene has 29 human figures and 23 animal figures, about 30 cm tall. It was restored at the end of the 20th century. Artistically it follows the legacy of Mikoláš Aleš and contains figures typical of the Czech countryside.[1]