The most beautiful churches cathedrals basilicas and chapels Prague

A little higher up than the Château, Place Notre-Dame-de-Lorette is a haven of peace and quiet. This important place of pilgrimage was built between 1626 and 1750 by the family of the famous Dientzenhofer. The design is reminiscent of Italian churches: the architect was in fact commissioned to draw inspiration from the sanctuary of Loreto, near Ancona, and he succeeded marvelously, which explains the church's name. Its tower houses a set of 27 bells that play a melody every hour for several minutes, gently giving rhythm to life in the neighborhood.

Inside, the sanctuary, also called " Santa casa ", is, according to legend, one of the houses of Nazareth that the angels deposited all over the world. There are more than fifty Santa Casas in Bohemia, and all are the object of major pilgrimages, although none has attained the aura of the Santa Casa in Loretto, Italy.

The interior is a masterpiece of decoration. Paintings, gilding, sculptures and relics form a busy but always harmonious whole. In the Treasure Room, don't miss the "Prague Sun", a dazzling gold monstrance with flaming rays, set with 6,222 diamonds. For enthusiasts, the treasury also houses an impressive collection of cult objects assembled over the last few centuries from various regions and countries of Europe. A priceless religious (and financial) treasure!

A beautiful Baroque façade hides a Romanesque basilica (Bazilika svatého Jiříqui) considered to be the best preserved in Bohemia. It houses under its massive vaults the crypt of the kings of the Přemyslides dynasty and the remains of Saint Ludmila of Bohemia. The convent next to the basilica was founded in 973 and has since undergone many alterations. It was closed in 1782 under the reign of Joseph II to be transformed into barracks. The last reconstructions date from 1962 to 1974, when the convent was restored and adapted to accommodate rare paintings. Today, the building is the exhibition space of the Czech Art collection from Rudolf II to the end of the Baroque period. The works are exhibited in the rooms, some of which retain Romanesque and Gothic elements, others were marked by the Renaissance, and there is no shortage of Baroque either. Among the paintings from the time of Rudolf II, we can name the paintings of Hans von Aachen, Bartoloměj Spranger or Adrian de Vries. As far as the Baroque period is concerned, there are remarkable works by Karel Škréta, Ferdinand Maximilian Brokof or Petr Jan Brandl. The exposure is quite large: allow at least one hour. If you look at the interior architecture of the building itself, you will notice that it shines with its great austerity, contrasting with the other monuments in Prague which generally respond to the credo of the Rococo or Baroque, much more provided with ostentatious decorations.

This square owes its name to the Bethlehem chapel, a true witness to the austerity of the reforms desired by Jan Hus. It surprises you with the colourful facades of one of the city's quietest and most pleasant squares. It was built in 1394 on the site of a malt house, in the heart of a district mainly inhabited by Czechs (and not Germans), who wanted to have a place of worship. It is of great importance for the history and culture of the country, because it was here in 1402 that Jan Hus, burned on July 6, 1415 in Constance for his ideas of reformation, became a preacher. The chapel, very simple at first, without even an altar and its spacious nave, could accommodate up to 3,000 people. It was redesigned in the first half of the 16th century, and it was at that time that the central nave was divided into six small naves. After the Battle of the White Mountain, it was bought by Jesuits and became a residential building in the 19th century. It was not until the 1950s of the 20th century that the chapel was rebuilt by the Czech architect Jaroslav Fragner, based on the original drawings preserved. The wall inscriptions that can be seen today were discovered during this reconstruction and bear witness to the passage of Jan Hus and his colleagues. This huge chapel has now become the site of a permanent exhibition that recalls its history. Every year, on July 5, Hus' death is commemorated there.

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.

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.