Bezděkov in Broumov Region announced a competition for saint sculptures for the baroque church

Bezděkov nad Metují - The municipality of Bezděkov nad Metují in the Náchod region has announced an artistic competition for the creation of saint sculptures for the niches above the entrance to the baroque church of Saint Procopius. The sculptures should depict the Benedictine saints Saint Procopius and Saint Vintíř, to whom this national cultural monument is dedicated. The representatives of the Centre for Architecture of the Hradec Králové Region informed ČTK about this today.

The building is part of the Broumov group of churches, which was established in the first half of the 18th century on the territory belonging to the Břevnov-Broumov Monastery. There are 11 of them, forming an interconnected architectural ensemble. Their authors are the baroque builders Kryštof Dientzenhofer and his son Kilián Ignác Dientzenhofer.

"Our requirement is the comprehensibility of the work and respect for the object where both sculptures will be located, as well as for the entire wider location and landscape, including the material solution. The goal is to create a new harmonious whole," stated the mayor of the municipality, Miroslav Maroul. According to him, the aim is not to create a copy of a baroque sculpture but a work that speaks in a contemporary artistic language. Bezděkov plans to organize a public collection to finance the project.

The church was built between 1724 and 1727 by the decision of the Břevnov-Broumov abbot Otmara Zinkeho according to the project of Kilián Ignác Dientzenhofer and was consecrated in 1729. The facade of the church includes two niches that the organizer proposes to fill with sculptures of saints. The church is part of the so-called baroque landscape. It belongs to the Roman Catholic parish – the deanery of Police nad Metují.

"It can be assumed that the niches were prepared specifically for the sculptures of the saints to whom the church is dedicated, but they have never been filled," said Pavla Rousková from the Centre for Architecture of the Hradec Králové Region. In the Czech context, it is a unique commission that presents artists with the opportunity to participate in a properly announced competition for a design of contemporary sculptural work in a sacred space.

The church in Bezděkov has a restored facade, for which it received recognition in 2024 from the Hradec Králové Region as a finalist for the Heritage Care Award – Hereditas obligat and a Golden Brick in the Village of the Year competition of the Hradec Králové Region. The municipality, with six hundred inhabitants, continues to care for the monument in cooperation with the deanery in Police nad Metují and the Hradec Králové Bishopric.