St. Thomas (Prague)
The Church of St. Thomas ( kostel svatého Tomáše ) is the collegiate church of the former Augustinian monastery on Prague's Lesser Town . The entire area is registered as a cultural monument.
Building history
The church stands on the site of the originally smaller Romanesque St. Thomas Church and St. Dorothea Chapel, the remains of which have been preserved in the choir area. In 1285 King Wenceslas II founded a church in memory of his father Přemysl Otakar II and Augustinian hermits settled there. A three-aisled Gothic basilica was then built in two construction phases , the elongated choir of which was consecrated in 1316. The church was only completed after the death of Emperor Charles IV in 1379. The monastery was partially destroyed in the Hussite Wars .
In the middle of the 15th century the sacristy with a ribbed vault and central column as well as an anteroom was added. The marble renaissance portals are related to a renovation around 1600. Under Rudolf II , the Thomas Church was elevated to the court church. The church decorations come from outstanding masters of the time. Bartholomäus Spranger painted the altarpiece of St. Sebastian in the presbytery . In 1637 the monastery acquired two pictures of Saints Thomas and Augustine for the high altar from Peter Paul Rubens . The originals are now in the National Gallery .
From 1727–1731 the church was redesigned in baroque style by Kilian Ignaz Dientzenhofer , who probably also provided the template for the high altar. From the masters of the Bohemian Baroque , Karel Škréta , Wenzel Lorenz Reiner (ceiling frescoes), Franz Xaver Karl Palko and Ferdinand Maximilian Brokoff took part in the renovation.
Augustinian monastery
The monastery buildings were rebuilt several times. They got their current appearance after a renovation in the 17th century. The Gothic St. Barbara Chapel has a Renaissance portal from 1596. Your altarpiece by Joseph Heintz the Elder. Ä. from around 1600 shows the Holy Family with angels as well as the Saints Barbara and Catherine. Today the monastery serves as a retirement home.
The Thomas brewery / Pivovar u sv. Tomáše existed until 2005, before the Hotel The Augustine opened in 2009 and the historic Thomaskeller was converted into a hotel bar.
Web links
- Church of St. Thomas Prague City Tourism Portal
- History of the monastery and church of St. Thomas Augustinian Order in Prague
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Entry in the catalog of the Czech Monuments Office
- ^ History of the monastery in the 16th and 17th centuries Augustinian order in Prague
Coordinates: 50 ° 5 ′ 19.5 ″ N , 14 ° 24 ′ 21 ″ E