The Church of Saint Roch, located on Olšany Square (Czech: ''Olšanské náměstí''), is the oldest church in present-day

Žižkov Žižkov ( or ''Zizkow'', between 1939 and 1945 ''Veitsberg'') is a cadastral district of Prague, Czech Republic. Most of Žižkov lies in the municipal and administrative district of Prague 3, except for very small parts which are in Pra ...

, a cadastral district of

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

. The

Baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

structure was built between 1680 and 1682 by Jan Hainric, probably according to plans by the renowned French architect

Jean Baptiste Mathey Jean Baptiste Mathey (c. 1630 – c. 1695) was a French architect and painter born in Dijon. Between 1675 and 1694, Mathey worked in Prague. He enjoyed a remarkable career in which his French planning and devotion to classical rationality (as opp ...

History

The stimulus for the church's construction was the plague epidemic which broke out in Prague in early 1680. So many citizens of Prague were killed, that new cemeteries needed to be established outside the city walls. Plague cemeteries were laid out in Olšany for the

Old Town In a city or town, the old town is its historic or original core. Although the city is usually larger in its present form, many cities have redesignated this part of the city to commemorate its origins. In some cases, newer developments on t ...

New Town New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz (South Korean band), The Boyz * New (album), ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 ** New (Paul McCartney song), "New" (Paul McCartney song), 2013 * New (EP), ''New'' (EP), ...

, and

Jewish Quarter Jewish Quarter may refer to: *Jewish quarter (diaspora), areas of many cities and towns traditionally inhabited by Jews *Jewish Quarter (Jerusalem), one of the four traditional quarters of the Old City of Jerusalem *Jewish Quarter (), a popular name ...

. The Old Town City Council also decided to build a pestilence chapel on its newly established burial ground. It was dedicated to St. Roch, a patron saint of plague victims. The Church of Saint Roch continued to function as a cemetery church, even after the

Olšany Cemetery Olšany Cemeteries (, ) is the largest graveyard in Prague, Czech Republic, once laid out for as many as two million burials. The graveyard is particularly noted for its many remarkable Art Nouveau monuments. History The Olšany Cemeteries w ...

began to accept regular burials among the plague victims. In 1839, a decree of the Governor abolished the parish church of the Elevation of the Holy Cross because of structural defects and adverse location, and the parish church functions began to be transferred to St. Roch of Olšany. From 1842, it engaged in all acts of parish spiritual administration. In the construction of the streets of present-day Olšanska Square, part of the original cemetery wall, behind which the Church of St. Roch stood, was demolished. The construction also required the removal of the old rectory. So today is the church stands alone in the middle of a green space. In recent years, the church has undergone reconstruction, including replacement of the roof, and the surrounding park land has been renovated."A new park in Prague Zizkov"
ABC Prague, Oct 03, 2006. Retrieved 2009-04-12.

Structure and furnishings

The church's shape is an

elliptical dome An elliptical dome, or an ''oval dome'', is a dome whose bottom Cross section (geometry), cross-section takes the form of an ellipse. Technically, an ''ellipsoidal dome'' has a circular cross-section, so is not quite the same. While the cupola c ...

(because of which the church is incorrectly called the "Rotunda"). Arcades stretch between the columns, supporting a gallery. The main

Neo-Renaissance Renaissance Revival architecture (sometimes referred to as "Neo-Renaissance") is a group of 19th-century Revivalism (architecture), architectural revival styles which were neither Greek Revival architecture, Greek Revival nor Gothic Revival ar ...

altar is the work of Antonin Baum and dates to 1879, when the church interior was restored and modified. In its center is a picture of an earlier period, the work of Ignác Raab in 1760, divided into two zones. At the top is the

Virgin Mary Mary was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Saint Joseph, Joseph and the mother of Jesus. She is an important figure of Christianity, venerated under titles of Mary, mother of Jesus, various titles such as Perpetual virginity ...

as the

Queen of Heaven Queen of Heaven () is a title given by the Catholic Church and Eastern Orthodoxy, to Mary, mother of Jesus, and, to a lesser extent, in Anglicanism and Lutheranism. The title has long been a tradition, included in prayers and devotional literat ...

with angels and at the bottom are patron saints invoked against plague epidemics: St. Roch,

Saint Sebastian Sebastian (; ) was an early Christianity, Christian saint and martyr. According to traditional belief, he was killed during the Diocletianic Persecution of Christians. He was initially tied to a post or tree and shot with arrows, though this d ...

, and

Saint Rosalia Rosalia (; ; 1130–1166), nicknamed ("the Little Saint"), is the patron saint of Palermo in Italy, Camargo in Chihuahua, and three towns in Venezuela: El Hatillo, , and El Playón. She is especially important internationally as a saint in ...

. The background of the image depicts the horror and destruction caused by the plague. The right side altar to the Virgin Mary is decorated with an image by J. Heřman. Located on the opposite side is the altar to

Saint Joseph According to the canonical Gospels, Joseph (; ) was a 1st-century Jewish man of Nazareth who was married to Mary, the mother of Jesus, and was the legal father of Jesus. Joseph is venerated as Saint Joseph in the Catholic Church, Eastern O ...

, together with a statue of

Saint John the Baptist John the Baptist ( – ) was a Jewish preacher active in the area of the Jordan River in the early first century AD. He is also known as Saint John the Forerunner in Eastern Orthodoxy and Oriental Orthodoxy, John the Immerser in some Baptist ...

, which comes from

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

. The

Stations of the Cross The Stations of the Cross or the Way of the Cross, also known as the Via Dolorosa, Way of Sorrows or the , are a series of fourteen images depicting Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ on the day of Crucifixion of Jesus, his crucifixion and acc ...

were painted by G. W. Weis in 1854 according to drawings of Führichových, while the great fresco above the entrance to the sacristy, which depicts the

Litany Litany, in Christian worship and some forms of Jewish worship, is a form of prayer used in services and processions, and consisting of a number of petitions. The word comes through Latin ''wikt:litania, litania'' from Ancient Greek wikt:λιτα ...

, was created in 1766 by J. Steter. The oldest preserved object in the church is the Baroque tin

baptismal font A baptismal font is an Church architecture, ecclesiastical architectural element, which serves as a receptacle for baptismal water used for baptism, as a part of Christian initiation for both rites of Infant baptism, infant and Believer's bapti ...

from 1595 from tin-smith Matthew Voříška of Roudnice on the

Elbe The Elbe ( ; ; or ''Elv''; Upper Sorbian, Upper and , ) is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Giant Mountains of the northern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia (western half of the Czech Republic), then Ge ...

References

External links

Roman Catholic Parish of St. Procopius Church in Prague 3 - Žižkov: Church of Saint Roch
(in Czech) This article is based on a translation of the corresponding article in Czech Wikipedia. {{DEFAULTSORT:Church of Saint Roch, Zizkov Churches in Prague 3 Church buildings with domes Žižkov Plague churches