Do You Know That? The Biggest Prague's Temple
The most famous Prague's landmark is a cityscape of Hradcany with symbol of the St. Vitus Cathedral, which is also probably the most visited monument in Prague. Except all the superlatives, it is missing something. Even naming it Saint Vitus which prefers, it is not entirely accurate, because the real name of that place is the Cathedral of St. Vitus, Wenceslas and Adalbert. To St. Vitus was consecrated only till 1997, but this name is already being called so that the building remained. The three-aisled Gothic home of the Roman Catholic Church of dimensions 124 m length, width 60 meters and height of the arch 33 meters makes it a majestic temple, but Prague has one more really higher.
And that is ...? While walking on Jungmann Square at the end of National Avenue, you might not even notice the building, which rises more than the others. This building is the church of Our Lady of the Snows. This unmistakable landmark is located in the vicinity of Wenceslas Square, can remain hidden behind a wall of marble stores and colorful banners attracts tourists to ride here or there or to buy some souvenir. The Carmelite church and adjacent monastery, dedicated to the Virgin Mary, was like many other important buildings founded by the Emperor Charles IV in 1347, namely the third September, just days after his own coronation. The original project of giant cathedral, with dimensions of 100 m in length and 40 m height of the ship remained forever unfinished. It was created only the presbytery (the chancel - the chorus) and the monastery building, so only a fraction of the planned building, which mighty should shade the St. Vitus Cathedral.
Perhaps the biggest incidence was, as it is in the Czech lands normal, the Hussite wars even though there preached radical Hussite priests John Želivský - leader of Prague's poor. The destructive power of this movement left a temple in ruins, which deteriorated in oblivion long decades. Until the early 17th century, began the reconstruction under the leadership of their new owners of the Franciscan order of the poor. A ruined Gothic arch was replaced by modern design with Renaissance paintings of the Holy Trinity and the Virgin Mary and has built a massive portal. From the damaged presbytery then became the church. Height of new vault reaches 34 meters, the original Gothic was only forty-meter. It is good to keep in mind that this small portion of the entrance, which is now an independent church, should be joined with a three-aisled cathedral with a total length of over 110 meters, which is up to today's Wenceslas Square ...
However, this list of interesting is not finished yet. The building has one unique more and that is the highest column early baroque altar in Prague with a height of 29 m with dominants is the seven-meter Holy Cross statue of the and John and Mary. The author of this monster works is unknown. Furthermore, there is seen an altar painting by Anthony Stevens, depicting the legend of the founding of the Roman church of Santa Maria Maggiore.
Perhaps you've been in this historical and sacred theme tempting to walk into places that are unlike the giant waterfalls, volcanoes and other monuments, but at least partially within reach of our forces and resources.
Text: Jan Chaloupka
Photo: wikipedia commons: Thomas Quin, Dezidor , Ulrichulrich
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