After years of preparation, the construction of a church has begun in the Lesná housing estate in Brno

Brno - In the middle of the Brno housing estate Lesná, a new church will be built in the next 20 months. The construction, which was preceded by years of preparation and fundraising among the parishioners, has begun with earthworks. The costs, including interior furnishings, will exceed 100 million crowns, said Martina Jandlová, spokesperson for the Brno Diocese, to ČTK today.

This year, the parish obtained all opinions, statements, and permits. During the holidays, they selected a construction company, and in August, they successfully handed over the construction site and signed the contract. The church, designed with a circular floor plan and a free-standing tower by architect Marek Štěpán, who has also worked on other sacred buildings, will accommodate 400 people.

"It is no secret that the entire project is being created exclusively from funds donated to our parish by donors and supporters from across the republic and abroad," states the parish on its website. They have been collecting money for several years – literally by the coins they accepted from people while withdrawing small denomination coins from circulation.

In the project, the architect aimed for a simple and legible building with a modest interior. "We have so much available information, visual and other stimuli, that attack us from all sides, that the space of the church should be a space of tranquility, a space free from this visual smog," Štěpán stated last year. As a building material, he chose exposed concrete combined with colored glazing, considering the surrounding housing estate.

Talk of a church in Lesná has been ongoing since the late 1960s. In 2004, as the first step towards a full-fledged temple, they opened the Spiritual Center of Fr. Martin Středa and Blessed Marie Restituty. The new church, in close proximity to the center, will be dedicated by the church to the nun Restituta, a native of Brno, who was executed by the Nazis.

Since 1989, 13 new churches and four dozen chapels have been established in the Brno diocese, along with a convent of Poor Clares in Soběšice and three spiritual centers.