The Neorenaissance Church Architecture in Bohemia and Moravia

The aim of this thesis is to systematically analyze the Neorenaissance churches and interpret them within the context of the nineteenth century architecture. During the second half of the nineteenth century in the central Europe the Neorenaissance style had become ubiquitous. However, its extensive use for secular buildings contrasts with the situation in the field of sacral architecture. New churches were designed mainly in the Neogothic style; the Neoromanesque style was also acceptable, though less frequent. Widespread reluctance towards the Renaissance, mainly among the clergy, but also among some architects, is considered to be the main reason. In monument preservation the cult of Gothic resulted in the Neogothic purism, to which usually fell victim any "ungothic" part of a historical building. Therfore, the number of Neorenaissance churches, compared to that of Neogothic, is significantly smaller. The Neo-Renaissance style, however enjoyed great popularity among Czech evangelical churches since the 1880's, mainly because it was considered to be less costly than the Gothic style. The Neorenaissance churches have not yet been systemically researched. Therfore, the research concentrates particularly on the archive materials that have not been published and are scattered around in many..