Rotunda of the Finding of the Holy Cross ( cs, Rotunda svatého Kříže Menšího) is a
Romanesque rotunda in Prague 1, Old Town quarter, on the crossing of Konviktská and Karolíny Světlé street. Its founding is considered after 1125.
Architecture
left, Roof lantern with the cross
Apse
Small and simple building made of smaller marlite stones cut in rows consists of a round nave vaulted into a dome with a
roof lantern
A roof lantern is a daylighting architectural element. Architectural lanterns are part of a larger roof and provide natural light into the space or room below. In contemporary use it is an architectural skylight structure.
A lantern roof wil ...
, and half-round
apse at the Eastern side. Apse is decorated by an arched frieze. At the top, there is a lantern with compound Romanesque windows, with, at the very top, gold-plated cross, crescent moon, and an eight-pointed star. Six-sided Romanesque ceramic tiles with a griffin of Vyšehrad type were discovered on the floor, a silver coin (denarius) from 1018 of Prince Jaromír from the Přemyslid dynasty was found near the rotunda in the 19th century. Romanesque marl roofing was discovered during restoration work in 2022.
History
The first written mention comes from 1365, when the rotunda was a
parish church, but the building is much older. It was built on an important trade route that led from
Vyšehrad to the
Vltava River crossings. It is possible that it originally belonged to one of the old town mansions as a private sanctuary. There was a
presbytery nearby, which had disappeared during the
Hussite wars
The Hussite Wars, also called the Bohemian Wars or the Hussite Revolution, were a series of civil wars fought between the Hussites and the combined Catholic forces of Holy Roman Emperor Sigismund, the Papacy, European monarchs loyal to the Cat ...
, and a cemetery was around the church building.
In 1625, the rotunda was given to the
Dominicans of the Old Town Monastery by the Church of
St. Giles
Saint Giles (, la, Aegidius, french: Gilles), also known as Giles the Hermit, was a hermit or monk active in the lower Rhône most likely in the 6th century. Revered as a saint, his cult became widely diffused but his hagiography is mostly lege ...
. In 1784, under the reign of
Joseph II the sanctuary was shut down as part of ecclesial reforms, and the chapel became a warehouse. In 1860 there were plans to tear down the church due to construction of a new house. By the initiative of Ferdinand Bretislav Mikovec and
Josef Mánes
Josef Mánes (12 May 1820, Prague – 9 December 1871, Prague) was a Czech painter.
Life
He came from a family of painters, which included his father Antonín, his uncle and Director of the Prague Art Academy Václav, his brother Quido and h ...
, the
Umělecká beseda organisation intervened to save the building, and they succeeded. Town council bought the rotunda from a private owner, and architect
Vojtěch Ignác Ullmann
Vojtěch Ignác Ullmann (23 April 1822 in Prague – 17 September 1897 in Příbram) was a Czech architect working in Revivalism architecture, particularly Renaissance Revival architecture.
Life
Ullmann studied architecture at the Academy of Fin ...
committed to restore the exterior for no reward. Ullmann also designed an altar, decorated by the painter Jan Popelík. Josef Mánes designed the grills around the rotunda.
At present, the rotunda is in use by the
Old Catholic Church in Czech Republic and it is administered by Prague
Old Catholic parish. Regular worship services are held here.
[http://praha.starokatolici.cz]
References
External links
* https://www.prague.eu/en/object/places/457/rotunda-of-the-finding-of-the-holy-cross-rotunda-nalezeni-sv-krize
{{Coord, 50, 4, 58.2, N, 14, 24, 53, E, display=title
Rotundas in Europe
Churches in Prague
