Feast of the Holy Cross Chapel

The chapel was built by the Sisters of Mercy of Virgin Mary of Jerusalem at the beginning of the 19th century in today’s Matiční Street. A doctor from Opava, Leopoled Heiderich, decided to rebuild the former Franciscan Monastery at the corner of Ostrožná and Beethovenova Streets (former Klášterní Street) and turn it into a hospital, which was later supported by the Sovereign Military Order of Malta. The town made an agreement with Ferdinad D’Este, the Grand Master of the order, that the hospital would be run by the Sisters of Mercy of Virgin Mary of Jerusalem. The female branch of the orders was thus restored in Opava. In the years 1841–1842 a new monastery building was added to the Hedrich’s Hospital. The construction was supervised by the order’s architect Anton Onderka. Today the simple three-storey two-wing Empire building houses the Church Convervatoire Opava. It is worth noting that before the hospital was relocated to the newly built complex in Olomoucká Street at the turn of the 20 century, the Order of Malta built their own hospital in the nearby Popská Street in 1883. The hospital provided free care for the poor. To this day the site is known as U rytířů (At the knights).

The original chapel was built presumably around 1864 in the monastery yard as a single-nave building with a flat presbytery adorned with a gold monstrance and a wing door panel from the 15th century by Jan Henneken van Wouvere. The surviving design by Josef Hruschka from 1902 documents the need to build a larger sanctuary. Five years later Ferdinand Zdralek nad Sigmund Kulka, who inherited Hruschka’s construction company, came up with a new design which was realised the following year. Archduke Eugen of Austria, the Grand Master of the order, was present at the opening ceremony. The Neo-Gothic single-nave building with a pentagonal presbytery is segmented by buttresses with arched windows. The south gable has a small octagonal turret with a pyramidal spire. The portal, which is in the east, has a tympanum adorned with a relief of the Grand Master’s emblem with tendrils of grapevine. The inside is rhytmized by pendant posts with capitals supporting a star vaulted ceiling. The presbytery, which is separated from the nave by a broken triumphal arch, has a simpler radial ribbed vault. There was an access to the church from the monastery via organ-loft. The upper part was then directly accessible to the nuns. The lower part was reserved for the public.

After February 1948 the nuns were evicted and the space was used by the Order of St. Borromeo. In the 1980s an order was issued to clear the chapel away. Fortunately, the chapel furnishing was salvaged and moved elsewhere. The altar was hidden in Melč. After 1989 the monastery property was returned to the Sisters of Mercy of Virgin Mary of Jerusalem. The reconstruction of the chapel and restoration of statues and altar were finished in 1994 when the chapel was consecrated and opened to public.