St Bartholomew’s Church by Maxim Velcovsky

This is not a new project, but it is certainly one of my favourites.

Completed in 2007 this church in the village of Chodovice in Eastern Bohemia, is a beautiful example of a contemporary baroque interior.

The quiet simplicity of this design has a sacred and ethereal atmosphere – it’s just lovely! The clean lines of the modern classic furniture juxtapose the worn walls, intricate chandeliers and the busy layers of persian rugs, but this combination seems almost natural – like Charles and Ray Eames and Verner Panton had this historic interior in mind when designing their chairs.

In a statement from Maxim Velcovsky, he says:

“The central nave has been stripped of dull repaints and left totally exposed so that visitors can watch the course of history on fragments and details on the wall. Illuminated by chandeliers adorned with pressed and roughly cut crystal, the bare space is dominated by an “army” of legendary chairs designed by Verner Panton with one crucial detail added – a Christian cross carved through the back of the chair… The redesign and religiousness of this design icon is multiplied by its installation on dozens of Persian carpets, which are so typical for Muslim shrines. This space is an eclectic cocktail and a place to ponder, moving us towards cultural dialogue.”

A nice bit of trivia about the chairs – due to Velcovsky punching out the cross in the back of all the chairs, he sacrificed a fair chunk of the product warranty. The structure of the chair is such that it is the tension of the moulded plastic that keeps it from collapsing, and so any break in the tension could mean that the chair would break when sat on. A hole of the size Velcovsky has put in probably won’t affect it, but just to be sure Panton pulled the warranty!