In 1929, the year that was recognized as the “Millenium of St. Wenceslas” as it was exactly a thousand years from his death, the Cathedral of St. Vitus at Prague’s Castle was completed as a priority. It was also decided to build two new catholic churches in honor of this anniversary. The first one was the Church of the Holiest Heart of the Lord at Jiřího z Poděbrad Designed by Arch. Josipa Plečnik. The second church was built by Arch. Josef Gončár in Vršovice at the square of Svatopluk Čech. This church was consecrated to St Wenceslas.
The “Association for building up the parish church in Vršovice”, as the name suggests was responsible for the construction of the latter church. The construction was carried out in 1929-1930 and its ceremonial consecration was held on 21st September 1930.
Since the site (formerly a cemetery) was on a slope, Arch. Gočár conceived the project as a hall building gradually rising towards the presbytery. This breakthrough in constructivist building made of concrete is a significant sight of Vršovice.
The prismatic tower of the church, which is 50.80m tall, is located at the forefront and is crowned by a 7m tall cross made of yellow opaxit. The tower has a rectangular ground plan and faces the Square on its shorter side. Here the church has tall windows made of luxfer glass, which were replaced during the church reconstruction in 1998. The stairs leading up to the tower allows us to get on the cascaded roof. The upper part of the tower with the tower clock merges into the square ground plan. To reach the very top we only have to use a simple ladder.
In 1996 the church was given two bells from the plant of Mrs. Tomášková-Dytrychová from Brodek u Přerova. The smaller bell was consecrated to St. Ludmila and is 260 kg. The bigger bell is 500 kg and was consecrated to St. Wenceslas.
