The Church of St. Elizabeth (, ), commonly known as Blue Church (''Modrý kostolík'', ''Kék templom''), is a Hungarian-Secessionist (Jugendstil, Art Nouveau) Catholic church located in the eastern part of the

Old Town In a city or town, the old town is its historic or original core. Although the city is usually larger in its present form, many cities have redesignated this part of the city to commemorate its origins. In some cases, newer developments on t ...

Bratislava Bratislava (German: ''Pressburg'', Hungarian: ''Pozsony'') is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the Slovakia, Slovak Republic and the fourth largest of all List of cities and towns on the river Danube, cities on the river Danube. ...

, present-day

Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...

. It is consecrated to Elisabeth of Hungary, daughter of Andrew II, who grew up in the Pressburg Castle ''(Pozsonyi vár)''. It is referred to as "The Little Blue Church" because of the colour of its

façade A façade or facade (; ) is generally the front part or exterior of a building. It is a loanword from the French language, French (), which means "frontage" or "face". In architecture, the façade of a building is often the most important asp ...

mosaic A mosaic () is a pattern or image made of small regular or irregular pieces of colored stone, glass or ceramic, held in place by plaster/Mortar (masonry), mortar, and covering a surface. Mosaics are often used as floor and wall decoration, and ...

s, majolicas and blue-glazed roof. It was initially part of the neighboring gymnázium (high school) and served as the school chapel.

Architecture

The one-nave church was built in 1908–1913, four years after the plans of

Ödön Lechner Ödön Lechner (born János Ödön Lechner; 27 August 1845 – 10 June 1914) was a Hungarian architect, one of the prime representatives of the Hungarian Szecesszió style, which was related to Art Nouveau in the rest of Europe, including the ...

to build a church in the Hungarian Art Nouveau style. The so-called Hungarian secessionist style forms dominate in the church. Lechner also drew plans of the neighbouring ''Gymnázium Grösslingová 18'' and of the vicarage (also in the Hungarian Secessionist style). The ground floor of the church is oval. In the foreground there is a 36.8 metre high cylindrical church tower. At first, a

cupola In architecture, a cupola () is a relatively small, usually dome-like structure on top of a building often crowning a larger roof or dome. Cupolas often serve as a roof lantern to admit light and air or as a lookout. The word derives, via Ital ...

was planned, but was never constructed; instead, a

barrel vault A barrel vault, also known as a tunnel vault, wagon vault or wagonhead vault, is an architectural element formed by the extrusion of a single curve (or pair of curves, in the case of a pointed barrel vault) along a given distance. The curves are ...

was built, topped by a

hip roof A hip roof, hip-roof or hipped roof, is a type of roof where all sides slope downward to the walls, usually with a fairly gentle slope, with variants including Tented roof, tented roofs and others. Thus, a hipped roof has no gables or other ve ...

. The roof is covered with glazed bricks with decoration, for the purpose of parting. The main and side entrances are enclosed with Romanesque double-pillars, which have an Oriental feeling. Pillars are also located near the windows. The façade was at first painted with light

pastel A pastel () is an art medium that consists of powdered pigment and a binder (material), binder. It can exist in a variety of forms, including a stick, a square, a pebble, and a pan of color, among other forms. The pigments used in pastels are ...

colours. Later the church got its characteristic blue colour. A line of blue tiles and wave-strip encircles the church.

Interior

The interior is richly decorated with

altarpiece An altarpiece is a painting or sculpture, including relief, of religious subject matter made for placing at the back of or behind the altar of a Christian church. Though most commonly used for a single work of art such as a painting or sculpture, ...

s. On the

altar An altar is a table or platform for the presentation of religion, religious offerings, for sacrifices, or for other ritualistic purposes. Altars are found at shrines, temples, Church (building), churches, and other places of worship. They are use ...

there is an illustration of St Elizabeth, depicted giving alms to the poor. A model of the church is in

Mini-Europe Mini-Europe is a miniature park located in the Bruparck entertainment park, at the foot of the Atomium, in Brussels, Belgium. Mini-Europe has reproductions of monuments in the European Union and other countries within the continent of Europe on ...

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

, representing Slovakia.

References

*''Part of the information in this article is based on its German equivalent.'' * {{Authority control Roman Catholic churches in Bratislava 20th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Slovakia Art Nouveau architecture in Slovakia Art Nouveau church buildings 1908 establishments in Austria-Hungary Ödön Lechner buildings Buildings and structures in Bratislava

Architecture

Interior

See also

References