Concepts of the church community house and liturgical space in the work of Miroslav Kouřil within the context of the Czechoslovak Church
Abstract
Czechoslovak Church has not yet been a subject of a detailed study. Recent research has dealt mostly with particular churches built by important Czech modernist architects (Gočár, Janák, Víšek) or with periods of development of church architecture in the Czechoslovak Church.
This study presents concepts of the church community house and liturgical space in the work of Miroslav Kouřil, who was an important Czech avant-garde scenographer and church architect in the 1930s and 1940s. These concepts are interpreted within the context of continual church discussions on various issues related to church architecture in the Czechoslovak church.
Particular attention is paid to the leading principles proposed by Kouřil as guidelines for building a liturgical space, namely the liturgical hall as a fundamental, unified and undivided space within the church community house; the centrality of the liturgical table; and the installation of the baptistery with living water.