Kostel Nejsvetejší Trojice v Podskalí / Church of the Holy Trinity in Podskalí (Prague)
N 50° 04.245 E 014° 25.063
33U E 458330 N 5546659
Small and decent late-Baroque parish Church of the Holy Trinity in Podskalí is interesting witness of urbanictic changes in ancient Prague's fishermens & rafters settlement - Podskalí, which was in 19th century rebuilt into prime residential area.
Waymark Code: WMMQJF
Location: Hlavní město Praha, Czechia
Date Posted: 10/26/2014
Views: 39
The parish church of the Podskalí settlement consecrated to St. Anthony, used to stand at the recent Trojická Street. The first note about this church comes from 1359. The story goes that it was built by the craftsmen, who worked on the church and monastery construction at Slovany. They worked here in their free time and without any remuneration using left-over material from the extensive construction previously mentioned monastery. The church therefore grew up with no costs involved. Its building was destroyed during the Hussite Wars on the day of Holy Trinity.
After the end of the Hussite Wars the church was rebuilt and consecrated to the Holy Trinity. The parish church and its rectory were very poor and were only surviving thanks to the donations. Still it was renovated in 1728-1729 and in 1781-1782 into the late-baroque style.
The Church of the Holy Trinity did not feature a tower originally only a Sanctus turret on the ridge of its roof. There was also a wooden belfry standing in the former cemetery. In the middle of the 18th century the church deteriorated so badly that the threat of a complete collapse of the building was very real. That is why it was decided to build the front tower. Its foundation stone was laid on 21st May 1781 and the tower was finished in the following year.
With 32 m in height and having only three floors the tower ranks amongst the smallest historical church towers in Prague. It was constructed by Mates Široký. The walls of the building feature windows of late-baroque style with wooden sun-blinds and the building corners are adorned with pilasters. The roof has a tetragon floor plan, which merges into an octagon. The octahedral onion shape dome with lantern has a smaller dome and two finials on its top.