kostel svatého Mikuláše v Praze-Starém Městě Church

The Church of St. Nicholas is located on Old Town Square in Prague and represents one of the most deranged sacral buildings in the centre. The present temple was established between 1732 and 1737, according to the design of the builder Kilián Ignác Dientzenhofer and replaced the Gothic basilica, whose beginnings are attributed in 1273. The original Gothic building was a tower with a prism tower covered by a needle roof and formed an important opposite of the Church of the Holy Mother in front of Tyn on the opposite side of the square.

For King Wenceslas IV, the church became one of the centers of Hussite ideology. Reformers Jan Milíč z Kroměříže and Matěj z Janova preached loudly here. After the period of rebellion, the building returned to the Catholic tradition. In 1635 it was taken over by Czech benedictini from the Emmausian monastery, with which the emperor opened up space for the community of the Taiwanese Montserrat. The monks performed the first reconstruction in 1650-1660 under the leadership of Abbot Matthew Ferdinand Sobk of Bílenberk. At the beginning of the 18th century they entrusted the builder František Maximilian Kaňka and his father Vít Václav Kaňka with the design and implementation of the prelature and refectory.

The decisive change came in the 1930s. Between 1730 and 1739, the original Gothic building was completely demolished, leaving only the crypt. A new Baroque building with an essential architectural solution was created in its place - a central layout with a cross dome and an extended conclusion. There was a prelatura on the west side. The interior was decorated by paintings of artists Jan Kryštof Lički, Jan Bedřich Hess and Matìj Zimprechtá, which decorated the altars. Asami decoration (whose frescoes were later killed) was also included.

In 1787 for the reign of emperor Joseph II there was a fundamental breaking point. The church was desecrated and the monastery was abolished. All equipment, including bells and objects of art, has been sold or reclaimed. In 1791 the property was purchased by the Prague municipality, which used it as a warehouse. Grains were stored here during the Napoleon wars. In 1865 the space was prepared as a concert hall. The fundamental turnaround occurred in 1871 when the Russian Orthodox Church rented the building, which had not had its own temple in the Czech countries until then. The church served Czech and mainly Russian believers until 1914. His first spiritual administrator became Nikolaj Nikolajevič Ryžkov, later the metropolitan Yevlogij and bishops Sergi and Isaakij were active here. After the acquisition of its own churches (Cyril and Methodius and the Deck of Bohodenice), the building was transformed into a garrison church and warehouse.

The church's appearance today bears traces of its complicated past. During the rendering of the old Prague, an adjacent Baroque prelature was demolished, opening a view of the side facade. In 1904 it was modified by architect Rudolf Kříženecký quasibaroque portal. Only a few building elements were preserved from the original Gothic building in today's cellar. The church remains an important testament to the transformation of Old Prague and the arrogance of the holy space.