Rotunda of St Martin (Rotunda sv. Martina)
"The rotunda of St Martin is the largest and oldest preserved rotunda in Prague. It was built in the second half of the 11th century. It has escaped demolition several times in its history. During the Thirty Years’ War it was used as a gunpowder store. The cannonball embedded in the façade to the right of the window is a reminder of the Prussian rampage in 1757. The rotunda is now used for religious purposes by the Vyšehrad ecclesiastical chapter."
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The Early Romanesque Basilica of St Lawrence and the pre-Romanesque buildings
"The Basilica of St. Lawrence (sv. Vavrinec) is one of the Early Medieval buildings to have survived at Vyšehrad even in part. Its remains lie in the foundations of the Baroque residence at 14, Sobeslavova ul., close to the princely and royal acropolis that was the heart of the stronghold in the Middle Ages. The first finds were made in 1884 during the sinking of a new cesspit on the south side. The first archaeological excavations began in 1903 under B. Matejka, and revealed that the tiles discovered previously came from a three-aisled, transepted basilica; at the east end were semi-circular apses, while the nave terminated in a square choir, again with a semi-circular apse. The church was 20.6m long, and the transepts too its width to 15.8m. The walls of the nave and transepts were 96cm thick, as they were at the Rotunda of St Martin. Excavation also showed that the north aisle was slightly narrower, and was preserved to the height of the first floor.
The second series of excavations at the basilica took place 1924-26 under K. Gutha, and described further details of the development of the structure and its relationship to the Deanery, which lies to the north.
The third phase of excavation was undertaken in 1968 by the Institute of Archaeology of the (then Czechoslovak) Academy of Sciences, under B. Nechvátal; it was oriented towards the verification of the stratigraphy of the tile finds, and demonstrated that these must be presumed to have been contemporary with the foundation of the basilica in the last third of the 11th century. One of the most important finds made was the foundation wall of a building even older than the Early Romanesque basilica, lying beneath its foundations.
The original function of the basilica is still not reliably known, although it clearly served as a parish church. It was probably destroyed in 1420 during the Hussite revolutionary uprising, and later (during the 15th century) replaced by a canonry that gradually began to serve as the Deanery.
St Lawrence's Basilica at Vyšehrad is the oldest building of the Hirsau type in the Czech Lands. The influence of Cluniac reforms from late 10th/early 11th century France, coming via Saxony, is clear in the structure. The use of piedroits in 11th century Bohemia was very unusual (cf. St Vitus' Rotunda at Prague Castle). St Lawrence's Basilica seems typologically to be contemporary with the similar church at Würtenberg in Germany. The five types of relief tiles, the oldest such finds from the Western Slavic cultural region, date to the same period
The original portal was at the west end, but this was removed during the devastation of the church, and its appearance is unknown. The present portal is a modern work of the architect A. Baum; the decorative motifs employed are stylised versions of those in the Vyšehrad Coronation Evangeliary of the first King of Bohemia, Vratislav (r.1061-92), who made Vyšehrad his permanent seat and the foremost location in the Premyslid state. B. Matejka and J. Herain arrived at a late 11th or early 12th century date for the building of the Basilica.
The pre-Romanesque building found beneath the foundations of St Lawrence's is the earliest building known from Vyšehrad. It was cruciform in plan, and perhaps had the same dedication as its successor; it is dated to the late 10th century. In all, 20.4m of walls were revealed, 135-150cm thick. The greatest quantities of masonry were found beneath the nave and south aisle of the basilica, immediately beneath the Early Romanesque tiling.
In interpreting the plan of the earlier cruciform structure, analogies were sought with the Ottonian church in the central stronghold of the Slavník dynasty at Libice near Podebrady, where a similar structure existed 962-995. The reconstructed plan of that at Vyšehrad indicates wings 15-17m long and a building length of 17-18m. On the basis of the archaeological context and finds, three reconstructions were made:
a. with closed, rectangular transepts
b. with an apsidal end
c. with an apsidal end and turrets over a victory arch
R. Turek, who reconstructed the church at Libice, notes that the closest analogy is to be found in the Palatine chapel at Werla, while other similar churches were those at Gernrode, Hildesheim, Walsbeck, St John's at Johannisberg, St Magnus' (the second building) at Worms, the later St Salwator in Cracow etc."
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