ST.WENCESLAS' CHURCH [ Church or cathedral ]

Kostelní Square)
- closed - The oldest remaining building in the city, dating from the first half of the 13th century. It burnt down at the beginning of the 14th century, and was rebuilt in the second half of the 14th century (with the addition of a presbytery and a rectangular nave with a flat ceiling and a spire). In 1539 the original nave was vaulted over and converted into a hall church with two aisles. In 1556 there was a fire, and the Renaissance interior was adapted and a tower with battlements built (which became a part of the city walls). In 1603 a choir was built in the western part of the hall church and three tombstones, commemorating important burghers and noblemen, were set into it. In the 17th century two Baroque "trefoil" chapels were added to both sides of the hall church. Between 1803 and 1839 the church was rebuilt in the Classicist style. The original Gothic sacristy at the presbytery was pulled down and a new one built in its place, and the lancet windows of the hall church were bricked up and replaced by wider and lower windows with semicircular upper panes. The steep Gothic roof was replaced by a ridge roof, and the Renaissance battlements were removed from the tower and replaced with the current upper floor, supporting a giant cupola with two poppy-heads and lanterns. Until 1825 there was a cemetery in the immediate vicinity, and during recent archaeological excavations some graves dating from the 13th to the 18th centuries were discovered, together with a Romanesque wall from the 13th century. From 1889 St. Wenceslas has been a branch church (after the expansion of the Cathedral of the Divine Saviour). A general renovation from 1998.

INFORMATION: http://mse.katolik.cz