St. Martin in the Wall
St. Martin in the Wall (Czech Kostel sv. Martina ve zdi ) is a Gothic church in the old town of Prague . It is named after St. Martin of Tours and an important place of the Reformation.
The church is used by the Evangelical Church of the Bohemian Brothers and their German-speaking Evangelical Community in Prague.
history
The Martinskirche was built between 1178 and 1187 as a single-nave, Romanesque parish church. The settlement of St. Martin was named after the church and was mentioned here as early as 1140.
When a city wall with a moat and double wall was built around the newly founded old town between 1249 and 1253 , the south side of the church was included in the wall and the parish or settlement of St. Martin was divided into two parts, inside and inside larger ones shared outside the city. Since then the church has been called “In der Mauer”. The Martinstor stood in the immediate vicinity.
The pastors joined the movement that led to the Bohemian Reformation early on. In 1414, for the first time in centuries, the Holy Communion chalice was given to laypeople in St. In 1488 the two side aisles were built in late Gothic style and the church was given its current appearance.
In 1622 the Protestant community had to leave the church after the defeat at the Battle of White Mountain near Prague and it was used by the Roman Catholic Church until 1784. The roof and tower of the church were also destroyed in the major fire in Prague's old town in 1678. The bells had to be re-cast.
In 1784 the church and the adjoining cemetery were closed and the building was used as a residential and commercial building. In 1904 the city of Prague bought the house and extensively restored the church from 1905 to 1906 under the direction of Kamil Hilbert , who at the same time completed St. Vitus Cathedral .
After the establishment of the Czechoslovak Republic in 1918, the church could be leased to the also newly founded Evangelical Church of the Bohemian Brethren . Since 1994 there is again a German-speaking Evangelical Congregation in Prague, which belongs to the EKBB. Since then, St. Martin in der Mauer has used it for its Sunday services.
The last renovation of the church took place in 2001.
graveyard
There has been a cemetery around Martinskirche for centuries. In 1620 some of the fallen soldiers of the Battle of White Mountain were buried here.
In the 18th century, the famous Baroque sculptors Johann Brokoff and his sons Michael Johann Brokoff and Ferdinand Maximilian Brokoff were buried at the church. They had their sculptor's hut nearby and were instrumental in creating the saints on the Charles Bridge . The memorial plaque is now on the north church wall.
In 1784 the cemetery was closed and later dissolved. Some tombstones can now be found inside the church.
See also
literature
- Jiří Otter : Through Prague on the trail of the Bohemian Reformation. Kalich Verlag Praha 2002, ISBN 80-7017-565-6 , pp. 39-41.
- Jiří Otter: The Evangelical Church of the Bohemian Brothers. Church publisher ENA Praha 1991, pp. 14/15, 17.
- Detlev Arens: Art Guide Prague. DuMont Buchverlag Cologne 2010, ISBN 978-3-7701-4303-0 , p. 253.
Web links
- Lena Drummer: St. Martin in the Wall - the eventful history of a Prague church, Radio Praha from December 16, 2012, audio 11 min
- German-speaking Evangelical Church in Prague
Coordinates: 50 ° 4 ′ 59 ″ N , 14 ° 25 ′ 12 ″ E