This Czech Chapel’s Craftsmanship Reflects Its Community’s Faith

Amid the rolling fields of southern Moravia in the Czech Republic stands a circular medieval-looking structure. It’s Our Lady of Sorrows Chapel, but it was actually completed just last year by RCNKSK, a Prague architecture studio that prioritizes the use of sustainable materials and strong connection to heritage. Cofounders Filip Kosek and Jan Říčný, along with help early on from Říčný’s father, Atelier Tišnovka cofounder Michal Říčný, built the church over a decade through a combination of techniques ancient and modern, its concept reflecting the story of the Virgin Mary.

The exterior is a mix of traditional larch and ash, while its 90-foot apex is a futuristic steel spire. The contrast continues for the 1,600-square-foot interior, characterized by rammed earth and locally quarried gneiss at ground level, with sunlight radiating through CNC-cut apertures above, around a series of ascending timber beams that symbolize the Seven Sorrows of Mary. “The suffering she endured is woven into the very fabric of the space,” Říčný says. “It’s an expression of craftsmanship and the Nesvačilka community’s faith.”

Representing the strength of that faith and the unyielding quality of humanity are the 16-foot-high entry doors in patinated copper and blackened oak, the steel and ash pews, the tabernacle formed from a historic piece of sandstone, and the building’s stone plinth—all materials that should stand the test of time, even age beautifully from it. The same can be said of the apple trees flanking the stone pathway, which echo the nearby orchards.