St. Peter and Paul’s Cathedral

New altar and ambo made of Lasa marble for the Brno Cathedral

In spring 2021, Lasa Marmo supplied the altar table as well as the support plate for liturgical books of the ambo for the highly visible St. Peter and Paul’s Cathedral in Brno, the capital of Moravia and second largest city in the Czech Republic. The commercial grade LASA BIANCO ORTLES^® was processed and refined for this. The ceremonial blessing of the new altar and ambo took place on 21st May 2021 by the Bishop of the Brno diocese, Vojtěch Cikrle.

On 21st May 2021, 130 years to the day after the blessing of the eleven-metre high altar of the cathedral, the consecration of the new central people’s altar and the new ambo took place in the presbytery of the St. Peter and Paul’s Cathedral in Brno. The renewal of the liturgical furniture was preceded by a competition announced by the diocese among architects and artists for the design of the choir altar of the cathedral. The aim of the tender was to unite the existing people’s altar and also other elements of the liturgical space in a contemporary way with the dominant elements of the current altar space. The Brno engineering architects Michal Říčný, Petr Todorov and Magdalena Říčná created an altar table adapted to the apse, where the massive marble tabletop is supported by a bronze forged framework woven into tendrils. The work immediately captivates with an impression of lightness, almost weightlessness. It is hard to believe that the heavy altar table can be supported by the delicate supporting bronze ornaments. Statically, however, everything has been thought through and tested.

"First of all, a digital model was created, which was examined for strength, stability and load-bearing capacity at the Institute for Solid Mechanics, Mechatronics and Biomechanics of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering at the Brno University of Technology. In addition, extensive discussions were held with the responsible craftsmen - a metalworker, a model maker, a patination expert and a stonemason - to check the dimensions, proportions and scale of the bronze structures", explains Arch. Říčný. The original idea was to use a type of marble that was also used for the existing floor, which was laid out in a chequered pattern. However, the extraordinary purity and crystalline character of the white LASA BIANCO ORTLES^® marble appealed to the planners so much that they decided to use Lasa marble. And another special feature characterises the altar table. On the top of the sacred gift table, a greyish veil can be seen in the sparkling white, like a faint shadow, slightly tinged, which extends harmoniously over the entire table. This special shade reminds Arch. Říčný of the shape of an angel's wing. During the ceremonial consecration of the altar, the Bishop of Brno personally thanked Lasa Marmo for the production and delivery of the altar tabletop and the ambo pulpit.