St. Maria Schnee (Prague)
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The Church of St. Mary of the Snow ( Chrám Panny Marie Sněžné ) is a church building in the Czech capital, Prague .
history
Even before the Rossmarkt ( Koňský trh ), today's Wenceslas Square ( Václavské náměstí ), with the founding of the New Town of Prague was laid out by Charles IV , the Carmelite monastery of St. Maria (im) Schnee ( Klášter Panny Marie Sněžné ) was already in the lower part was founded, the cornerstone of which Charles IV himself laid in September 1347 to commemorate his coronation as King of Bohemia .
Due to its location at the interface between the new and old town as well as in the middle of the new city complex, the church was of special importance from the start, which was also to be expressed in the architecture.
After a smaller church, the remains of which can still be seen on the north side of the choir, and the cloister had been built, the construction of a three-aisled basilica was probably started in 1379 , which with a planned length of over 100 meters would have even exceeded St. Vitus Cathedral . By 1397, however, only the presbytery could be completed, which at 39 m was the highest in the city. The construction of the nave, which had already begun, was interrupted by the Hussite Wars and the already completed tower was destroyed. Parts of the north and south aisles that have been started are built into the baroque chapels in the forecourt.
In the early 15th century, the church was a center of the radical wing of the Hussite movement and the place of activity of the Hussite preacher Jan Želivský . From here the armed march to the Neustädter Rathaus began in 1419. Želivský was executed on March 9, 1422 in the old town and buried in his church.
After the church had been deserted in the 16th century and the original vault collapsed, the Franciscans, who settled here from 1603, added a new, lower reticulated vault in the Renaissance style . The window panels were also pulled down, a new, simplified tracery was fitted and a new front wall was erected in the west. A few years later the church received an early baroque high altar, the highest altar in Prague. At the same time, the former monastery building on the south side was given its current baroque exterior. However, the Gothic cellar vaults in the "U Františků" wine tavern in the garden of the former Franciscan monastery have been preserved.
The tympanum relief on the north portal of the church from the middle of the 14th century is of particular importance in terms of art history. The original is now in the National Gallery in St. George's Monastery . It shows a mercy seat in the upper part and below it a coronation of Mary (probably not originally). The assistant figures are probably depicting King John of Luxembourg with a lion's shield and Charles IV as Margrave of Moravia .
Legend of Maria Schnee
The unusual name goes back to an old legend of the Virgin Mary . After this, Mary appeared to a Roman Christian in a dream in 325 and commanded him to build a church on the spot where there would be snow the next morning. It was August, so that the Roman initially doubted the apparition. But when he looked out the window, Esquiline Hill was covered with a thick blanket of snow. The man then built a church there and consecrated it to Mary in the snow . According to legend, the church that was built in this way is Santa Maria Maggiore . The patronage gradually spread, but is rare overall.
See also
literature
- Jiří Otter : Through Prague on the trail of the Bohemian Reformation , Kalich, Praha 2002, ISBN 80-7017-565-6 , pages 67-69
Web links
Coordinates: 50 ° 4 ′ 59.2 ″ N , 14 ° 25 ′ 25.9 ″ E