Locations #1

Semily used to be a centre of the textile industry right in the middle of the Bohemian Paradise. The church was one of the many places in the Czech Republic that spread the reformist ideas of Jan Hus, the Church reformer who was burnt to death in 1415 in Konstanz. In the 1920s, in line with the foundation of the Czechoslovak Republic, many Hussite churches were established. The catholic priest Karel Farský played a major role in this. He was eventually elected the first Hussite patriarch. This slightly hidden house of God in Semily was thus named after him. The architecture of the church bears the stylistic signature of Vladimír Krýš. The architect used elements of Art Deco and Cubism for this 1938-built church. The most striking elements of style of both the tower and portal are their grading arches that reflect the aspiration to create a pioneering sacred architecture. Another noteworthy Hussite church by Vladimír Krýš can be seen in Turnov, a town 10 kilometres to the west.