The Church of Blessed Marie Restituta in the Lesná district had been a dream of the faithful since 1968, when the housing estate was first established.
Under the state regime, its construction was not permitted, so efforts to build the church could only resume after the regime’s fall in 1989. Initially, a multipurpose facility, the so-called spiritual centre, was built, to be followed later by the church. The Spiritual Centre of P. Martin Středa and Blessed Marie Restituta was blessed on 2 October 2004 by Bishop Vojtěch Cikrle of Brno. Roughly thirteen years later, construction of the church itself began.
The building was realised according to the design of Brno architect Marek Jan Štěpán, in collaboration with Vanda Štěpánová, František Brychta, Jan Vodička, Martin Kopecký, and Petr Kvíčala, with the help of many volunteers from the parish who contributed thousands of hours of work. The construction was funded entirely by donations from the faithful, mostly small contributions from around 30,000 donors. Built between 2017–20, the church was named Building of the Year 2020 in its category for its architectural design. Canadian magazine AZURE included it among the ten most successful interiors of the year.
The church has a circular floor plan, with a large round coloured window at the upper section. A 31-metre-high triangular tower in exposed concrete is attached to the main circular structure via an elevated walkway. The cube-shaped lantern at the top of the tower houses a carillon, with a viewing platform above. The church is complemented by the spiritual centre, a community hall, and underground parking. Interior furnishings were initially provisional: wooden benches came from the Church of the Holy Spirit in Staré Město, and the wooden altar, originally from the spiritual centre, is intended to be replaced with a stone one in the future.
In mid-May 2020, the church was opened for use by the faithful and was solemnly blessed on 12 September. Sunday services attract around 500 people, with many visitors attending on weekdays as well. More than 3,000 people have already visited the adjacent P. Martin Středa Tower, which offers panoramic views of Brno and southern Moravia.
