In the 60s of the last century Teplice was almost at the verge of ecological disaster. Intensive mining activities of the North Bohemian Coal Mines reached to the very town. Unfavourable dispersion conditions threatened the inhabitants of the world-famous town with increasing frequency. The first student demonstrations against the air and land pollution in autumn 1989 broke out here in Teplice. After the Velvet Revolution Teplice could finally breathe freely again.
But let us return for a moment back into the past. What was the religious life of the Czech Protestants in this spa town?
The difficult task to build individual preaching stations in the North Bohemia fell to the congregation in Krabčice. Thanks to the tireless work of the local preachers, in 1899 the Czech Reformed preaching station was established in the suburbs of Teplice (today it is its town part Trnovany). After World War I many new members came and in the year 1926 a congregation of the Evangelical Church of Czech Brethren (ECCB) was established in Teplice-Trnovany. Its first minister was Eugen Zelený. The congregation seat was transferred to Teplice in 1934. A plot next to the congregation building was bought and in 1938 a church in the functionalist style designed by architect Miloslav Tejc started to grow here.
Before it could be finished, the Second World War started. The German Evangelical Church had its congregation in Trnovany and during the war the Czech Protestants were also allowed to meet in their Art-Nouveau church from the year 1905. When the war finished, the members of Teplice congregation could use this church; they however preferred to finish the building of “their own” church. It was officially opened on 1st January 1948. (The German church in Trnovany had a sad fate: it became a warehouse, then it burned and in 1974 it was demolished).
Teplice congregation of the ECCB has been using its church for more than 60 years and remembers with a gratitude all who contributed to its construction in the hard recent years and enjoys a rich congregation life, as it is enabled by the congregation facilities with a nice garden.