The altar of Brno’s Petrov Cathedral has been dismantled, and will be relocated to Rome. The Brno bishop, Vojtěch Cikrle, will consecrate the new altar in May. Photo Credit: KB / BD.
Brno, Apr 10 (BD) – The sacrificial altar at Brno’s Petrov Cathedral was dismantled on Wednesday and will be dedicated to the Chapel of St. John of Nepomuk in Rome, where it will become part of the Pontifical College Nepomucenum, the Rome seminary for Czech theologians. The new altar, designed by architects Michal Říčný, Petr Todorov and Magdalena Říčná, will be consecrated by the Bishop of Brno, Vojtěch Cikrle, on May 21st. The new altar cost almost CZK 2 million.
Petrov Cathedral will still be open to worshippers despite the absence of the altar, which has been temporarily replaced by a wooden table. In the meantime, masters of several crafts – metalworkers, sculptors, and stonemasons – are working to assemble the parts in the coming weeks, with the help of modern technology for the most detailed carved ornaments and to test the strength, stability and load-bearing capacity of the altar as a whole.
The historic sacrificial altar, designed and built by the carver, sculptor, and restorer Jaroslav Vaněk, has been in Petrov Cathedral since 1984. It weighs 1.7 tons and contains the remains of St. Wenceslas. Bishop Cikrle decided to dedicate the new altar in honor of St. Zdislava, the patron saint of families and protector of marriages, who was born in Křižanov in the Brno region.
