The Csepel Greek Catholic chapel is present as the “westmost bastion of Greek-Chatolicism” in the suburban, smallscalefamilyhomes environment. The small but compact body does not try to draw attention to itself with its ornamentation or cultivated details, rather carries its sacrality in its singleswipe, grandiose form. The ellipse-shaped church wing is connected to a auxiliary wing and the squat rectangular bell tower, which forms a nice contrast erected over the church wing with its rectangular based, high pitched roof.
- architect: Péter FEJÉRDY - Fejérdy és Bartók Építészeti Kft.
- year of design/construction: 1997-2000/2000
- photography: © Andrea HÄIDER
- → see the building on the map "hungarian architecture"!
To understand the symbolism of the space it is necessary to know the specific situation of the Greek Catholic religion between Eastern and Western Christianity. The duality of following the liturgy of the Eastern rite and still being part of the western branch of the Catholic Church appears in the organization of space. The elliptic space with a longitudinal axis is moved in the direction of centrality by the roof shape raised abvoe it. The gables of the high roof outstanding from the flat roofing one side end in the line of the gallery, while (according to the original plans) on the altar side they contionue in the plane of the iconostase resolving it as some kind of “light wall” (finally it was not realized this way). In the auxiliary wing (characterised by the elliptic curvers) there is a community space, an office, a vestry, and the storage space. In the connection between the two a narrow aisle runs down, separated by pillars.
The dominant materials of the temple are brick and wood. The visible, unplastered brick gives a homogeneous, still rich finish. Péter Fejérdy imagined the chapel of beautifully aging materials, employing a simple construction technique. The thoughtful, mature details are derived from the whole of the building - the Holy Spirit Church is an outstanding example of Hungarys contemporary sacred buildings.
translation: Anna ILLÉS
Publications in English:
Data:
- client: Csepel Greek Catholic Community
- scale: ~200m2
- the building on the homepage of the architect;
