The most beautiful religious buildings Prague

The Church of St Ignatius (Kostel svatého Ignáce) is the Jesuit church par excellence. It was built by C. Lurago in 1670 and its interior is dominated by a particularly rich Baroque and Rococo decoration. Destroyed during a bombing of Prague in 1945, it has since been rebuilt in its original style. Diametrically opposite the town hall, the Faust house (Faustův dům), at number 40 of the square, was inhabited by the famous doctor who sold his soul to the devil.

To the east of Josefov, the district around the convent of St. Agnes offers a calm and serene atmosphere and almost village street scenes. We are far from the proud high buildings of the western part of the district. Here, the houses are low and the narrow cobbled streets are sometimes narrow. The cloister is one of the oldest Gothic buildings to have survived previous centuries. It was Anežka Přemyslovna, the sister of King Wenceslas I who became a member of the Order of St Francis of Assisi, who asked for the foundation of this convent of the Poor Clares. Its construction began in 1234, but was not completed until decades later. In 1782, the convent suffered the same fate as many others in Bohemia: it had to close following a decree by Joseph II. The premises of the convents were then converted into warehouses. Since the creation of Czechoslovakia, the convent has housed the collection The Medieval Art of Bohemia and Central Europe (1200-1550). The sobriety of the church and the 14th century Gothic vaults highlight their beauty. It includes works by the master theorist who decorated Karlštejn Castle with his paintings on wood, as well as Slovak, German and Austrian works. Allow at least an hour to fully enjoy not only the collection, but also this architecture that no longer has many competitors in Europe. The concerts are given in the hall next to the church in a purely magnificent Gothic setting.

You won't miss this neo-gothic style church, all in brick, which dominates the Place de la Paix with its twin 60 m high bell towers. It was built at the end of the 19th century, between 1888 and 1892 by the architect Josef Mocker, as the number of inhabitants in Vinohrady was increasing. Emperor Franz Joseph visited the building shortly after its inauguration. The interior is well worth a visit, if only to admire the beautiful stained glass windows.

The convent (břevnovský klášter), in its present form, dates from 1709-1720, the work of Christophe Dientzenhofer. The adjoining cloister houses a room named Maria Theresa, whose ceiling is decorated with a famous fresco by the Bavarian painter Cosma Damien Asam and represents the Miracle of Blessed Vintir, a Benedictine pilgrim. It is one of the best preserved frescoes of the Prague Baroque. The basement of the Sainte-Marguerite church has preserved the original Romanesque crypt.

This church (Kostel Panny Marie pod řetězem) was the oldest in Malá Strana. A Romanesque basilica, of which there are still some elements, already existed in the 12th century. The square towers, so clearly recognizable from above, were completed in the 14th century. The complex was "baroqueized" in the 17th century. On the main altar is one of the best paintings by the Czech painter Karel Škréta, which dates back to the 17th century. A Latin Mass is celebrated every Sunday at 11am.

Originally (1736), Chrám sv. Cyrila a Metoděje was a Catholic church dedicated to St. Charles. In 1930, it became the cathedral of the Czech Orthodox Church. It was in its crypt that the men of Operation Anthropoid , who had killed Heydrich (Nazi governor of Bohemia and head of the Gestapo) in 1942, were besieged by the SS. The paratroopers defended themselves and repelled several assaults, but the Nazis called in the fire department to flood the crypt. Threatened by the waters, the escapees chose to kill themselves after trying in vain to dig a passage to the city's sewers. Their sacrifice and the severe repression that followed in and around Prague, particularly with the destruction of the village of Lidice, weighed enormously not in the war itself but in the recognition of Czechoslovakia as a state and ally in the battle against fascism, a status it had lost since its dismantling by Hitler in 1938. In the church, you'll be able to see a beautiful exhibition dedicated to the mission of the paratroopers who assassinated the "Butcher of Prague". The scenography has been redesigned for the eightieth anniversary of the mission in 2022. Read French writer Laurent Binet's excellent HHhH , which was subsequently produced as a film, while another feature film, directed by Szan Ellis, was also made in 2016 to detail Operation Anthropoid.