St. Nicholas Church - Prague, Czech Republic
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ToRo61
N 50° 05.274 E 014° 25.193
33U E 458500 N 5548565
A details of towers of St. Nicholas Church
Waymark Code: WM18A6Y
Location: Hlavní město Praha, Czechia
Date Posted: 06/26/2023
Views: 3
The building of the former church is located in the northwestern corner of the Old Town Square. The church was abolished in 1787. It briefly served as an Orthodox church, or rather, as a Czechoslovak Hussite Church. Currently, it is used as a venue for concerts.
"St. Nicholas Church was built in the Baroque period between 1732 and 1737 by the architect Kilián Ignác Dientzenhofer on the site of a burned-down Romanesque church. The dome between the towers measures 46.5 meters, with both towers being one meter taller. Initially, only one of the towers could be accessed via a staircase. The second tower was connected to it by a wooden walkway on the exterior of the facade. This walkway did not have a railing, and crossing it required a daring feat. In fact, in 1791, the French aviator and conqueror of the English Channel, Jean-Pierre Blanchard, exhibited his aviation technique there. A new staircase to the second tower was only installed in 1904.
The existence of the church is first mentioned in a Brevnov Monastery deed from 1273, but a St Nicholas chapel has stood at the marketplace since the Romanesque period. The church was reconstructed in the Gothic style in the 14th century, expanding to a three-aisle church with two towers, an attached rectory, school, cemetery and ossuary. The Jan Milíc of Kromeríž in around 1360 and later Matthew of Janow both preached at the church. The church belonged to the Hussite camp. French incendiaries set fire to the Old Town in 1689, the resulting conflagration completely destroyed the original architecture of St Nicholas. As a result, the decision was made to tear down the church and erect a new one in its place. One of the most renowned Baroque architects, Kilian Ignaz Dienzenhofer, was commissioned to build the new church. In 1732 – 1737, a monumental piece of Prague Baroque architecture was erected at the cost of Benedictine abbot Anselm Vlach. The stucco work was executed by Bernardo Spinetti and his journeymen, the frescoes were painted by Bavarian painter Cosmas Damian Asam, and the sculptures are the work of Antonín Braun, who had taken over his uncle Matthias Bernard Braun's famed sculpture workshop. It was here where Dr. Karel Farský announced the establishment of the Czechoslovak Hussite Church in 1920; to this day St Nicholas remains a Hussite church.
The interior features complex forms, trompe-l'œil paintings with interesting lighting effects, and is considered to be one of Dienzenhofer's masterpieces. A crown chandelier decorated with Harrachov crystal hangs in the nave. In the late 19th century Russian Tsar Nicholas II donated to the Orthodox Church, which had been using the church since 1871|. The church underwent a costly renovation from 1967 – 1977."
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