Kostel svatého Jakuba Staršího (Petrovice) Church

The Church of Saint James the Greater is the oldest monument in Prague's Petrovice. Written sources mention a parish here from the time of Charles IV's reign. However, a structural survey showed that the church probably originated already in the second half of the thirteenth century. It is an early Gothic building that still bears signs of Romanesque style.

Originally, the interior was rather dark. Light penetrated only through the entrance from the south side and a single window in the middle of the front wall of the chancel. This window probably belonged to the few decorated elements of the building, and only the upper part of its frame survives to this day. The interior likely acquired painted decoration only at the beginning of the fifteenth century.

In the second quarter of the eighteenth century, the apparently already deteriorating church was repaired and enlarged. A sacristy was added on the east side, and a prismatic tower on the west side, in which a bell chamber was established in seventeen seventy-six. A new entrance was created under the tower, and the old south entrance was therefore bricked up. The church then acquired a Baroque appearance. Four larger windows now let light inside, and new plaster covered the medieval paintings.

The second major reconstruction took place in nineteen ten. Count Ernest Emanuel Silva-Tarouca participated in it with his wife Maria Antonia Gabriela, born Nosticová-Rieneck. The aim was to return the church to its Gothic appearance. The Baroque onion dome was replaced by a slender four-sided spire. The plaster was stripped from the outer walls and the original stone casing was restored. The bricked-up south Gothic portal became part of the facade. After removing the inner plaster, the medieval paintings appeared again. They were partially restored at that time, and a complete renovation took place in nineteen eighty.

The church is protected as a monument, along with the former cemetery and the boundary wall with a gate. Statues of Saint James the Greater and Saint Thaddaeus stand on the pillars of the gate. On the cemetery wall there is still a torso of a statue of another saint whose identity could not be determined. The cemetery at the church was closed, and a new one was created in nineteen seven, about seven hundred fifty meters to the east.

Next to the church stands the new parish center Camino. It serves as a meeting place for parishioners and parents with children. It was completed in the first half of twenty sixteen, and on Sunday, May twenty-ninth, it was consecrated by Cardinal Dominik Duka.

At Christmas, an unusual nativity scene is displayed in the church. It was created at the beginning of the twenty-first century according to an idea by Jiřina Němcová. It consists of a kind of tableau with photographs of local parishioners and their families, both living and deceased. In twenty nineteen it had around six hundred figures. The landscape around them is made up of images of houses, schools and other buildings from Petrovice and Hornoměcholupská. The nativity scene is set up at the beginning of Advent, and gradually stars and little angels are added, which symbolize prayers and good deeds. At the Christmas mass, the holy family with the Star of Bethlehem is added, and on the Feast of Epiphany, the three kings arrive.