Karmelitske Square by Vaclav Jansa - Prague, Czech Republic
Posted by: 
ToRo61
N 50° 05.215 E 014° 24.229
33U E 457350 N 5548464
Karmelitske Square, now Karmelitska street and towers of the Church of St. Nicholas
Waymark Code: WMTMEE
Location: Hlavní město Praha, Czechia
Date Posted: 12/11/2016
Views: 34
The oldest graphic depiction of Prague is a xylograph in the schedel Chronicle, published in Nuremberg in 1493; some experts assign the work to the young Albrecht Dürer. Filip van den Bossche, Václav Hollar (1607-1677), Vincenc Morstadt (1802-1875), Samuel Prout and others rank among further well-known artists recording the appearance of old Prague.
This painting shows Karmelitske Square, now Karmelitska street and towers of the Church of St. Nicholas in Lesser Town.
Lesser Town of Prague (
visit link) [CZ: Malá Strana] is a district of the city of Prague and one of its most historic part. In the Middle Ages, it was a dominant center of the ethnic German citizens of Prague. It also housed a large number of noble palaces while the right-bank towns were comparatively more bourgeois and more Bohemian Czech.
The St. Nicholas Church is one of Prague’s Baroque jewels in Lesser Town Square. The Jesuits had merit in building this church after they received imperial consent to demolish the existing ancient church of the same sanctification.
The plans of the new church were prepared by Kryštof Dientzenhofer, who also directed its construction in 1703 – 1711. Completion of the property was delayed for another 50 years due to insufficient funds, the Black Death (1713), and to war events between 1741 and 1744. Kiliaán Ignác Dientzenhofer carried out the task after his father died. He created the church ending with dome and part of the tower up to its gallery. Completion of the church stayed within the family. After the death of Dientzenhofer junior architect Anselmo Lurago completed the building. He created the upper part, a slim bell tower in rococo style, which has the same height as the dome – 74 m.
The author of this painting is Václav Jansa. You can find this painting in book 'Starou Prahou Václava Jansy' (
visit link) .
Vaclav Jansa (October 22, 1859 Slatinice - June 29, 1913 Cernošice) (
visit link) Czech landscape artist and illustrator, best known for these views, originally painted in water-colour.
Jansa was apprenticed to buyers, but later he devoted himself to his hobby of drawing and painting. Vaclav Jansa traveled a lot and took to painting landscapes. He painted mostly southern Bohemia and Giant Mountains. Since 1893 was redeveloped historic districts of Prague, Prague ghetto and parts of the Old and New Town. In this time Jansa painted cca 150 colored watercolors documenting disappearing part of the city.