St. Philip and St. James Church

Though rather average from an architectural and artistic point of view, the unexciting building of the St. Philip and St. James Church has, in the context of the city of Zlín, unquestionable historical value. The first written mention of the existence of the parish church dates back to 1437, however the church is located in a place associated with the very founding of Zlín. It is in the area around the church that we can place the oldest cluster of dwellings of the entire gradually-growing regular settlement. It was located at the intersection of two locally important trade routes. One led through the Podřevnice valley from west to east, while the other crossed it in the area of today's Dlouhá, Osvoboditelů and Hradská streets. It connected Holešov with Uherský Brod.

It was not until a little later that the city centre moved further north, where a grid of houses was gradually created around the regularly-set square. However, the church district still retained an essential place in the city's planning. In today's parish meadow, there was a historic rectory building, which was demolished in 1967. Before the construction of the four-lane road, a primary school building (built in 1857, demolished in 1932) was located in close proximity to the church; directly opposite the main entrance to the church, a poor institute was built, funded by the townspeople in 1865 (demolished in 1933). It can be seen that the location around the church has for centuries served as the spiritual, educational, and social centre of the town. The construction of the monastery of the Congregation of the Sisters of Mercy of the Third Order of St. Francis in Opava in the area behind the parish meadow in the years 1937–1938 further proves this.

The parish church has undergone many changes over the centuries. We know the appearance of the building in the 18th century thanks to two preserved illustrated city plans. The church was then orientated with the chancel to the east, and the western entrance facade was dominated by a side tower built in 1566. In 1800, however, the then owner of the estate, Baron Klaudius Bretton, decided to demolish the existing nave due to its poor technical condition and insufficient size. The new nave was to be orientated north-south, so the original tower became part of the main façade.

Poor craftsmanship led to the collapse of the nave in 1803. The new construction was assigned to the Holešov builder Martin Galuška, and the completed church was consecrated in 1807. In the following decades, the church burned down twice. Restoration after the fire of 1819 lasted until 1830, the most significant visual change being the increase in height of the tower, and the new roofing. The fire of 1849 affected another 138 buildings in the town in addition to the church, the rectory, and the school. The tower of the church was not completely renovated until 1884. Its author was the architect from Uherské Hradiště, Dominik Fey, and it was the last major intervention to the exterior of the church.

Today, the entrance at the north façade is dominated by a tower topped by a pyramidal roof. Above the entrance portal is the coat of arms representing the alliance of Klaudius Bretton and his wife Cecilia, born Countess of Magnis. The nave of the church has the shape of an octagon in the plan. The pentagonal presbytery, together with the two vertically adjoining sacristies, form the shape of a cross. On the first floors of the sacristies there are oratories that can be used for prayer communities. The façade of the building between the sacristies and the presbytery is complemented by ground-floor extensions.

The oldest part of today's interior decoration is the ceiling paintings by the Viennese painter Schmidt, executed in 1904, and nine statues of saints, which were renovated in 1970 with a unifying paint in the shade of marble. In 1918, the local parishioners bought eight stained glass windows with motifs of national saints. In 1931, the church underwent extensive renovation, including the purchase and installation of an organ by the Rieger company from Krnov. At that time, most of the costs were borne by the Baťa company, which in 1929, after purchasing the property of the former Zlín estate with the chateau building, became the patron of the church. The interior underwent a fundamental change in the spirit of the liturgical regulations of the Second Vatican Council in the 1970s and 1980s. The existing very average and artistically and historically insignificant features of the interior were replaced by a concept designed and realised by František Peňáz. The interior was unified by the mosaics at the side altars and the central mosaic in the presbytery with a motif of Christ and the kneeling patrons of the Church of St. Philip and St. James the Younger, created by Antonín Kouba. Above the main altar is a cross made in the Železný Brod glassworks. In 1971, three chaplains donated new Stations of the Cross to the church, made by the sculptor Karel Stádník.

The last significant renovation effort is the acquisition of new bells for the church tower. Of the four existing iron bells made after the First World War, only one was left in operation, the others remain in the tower as a memorial. In 2008, the iron bell was complemented by two new bronze ones from the workshop of Josef Tkadlec.

In 2018, a competition was held for the revitalisation of Zlín's Peace Square, which also included the design of the area in front of St. Philip and St. James Church, which currently serves as a car park. The winning project of the Brno studio P. P. Architects envisages the transformation of this place into a small piazzetta with trees, ornamental flowerbeds, and urban furniture. The space in front of the church could thus acquire a much more dignified look, corresponding to the significance of the place, which has been an important point on the spiritual map of the city for centuries.

DV