If you go south from Charles Square straight along Vysehradska Street, you can come to a majestic building - the Church of St. John of Nepomuk. The church is rightfully considered the best creation of the architect Kilian Ignaz Dientzenhofer. Many experts in the field of architecture and art noted the successful decisions of the creator, and the church itself was recognized as the pinnacle of Prague Baroque.
A little history
John of Nepomuk, after whom the church is named, became a saint and martyr for the Czech people in the 15th century, almost immediately after his terrible death on the orders of King Wenceslas IV. John of Nepomuk was officially canonized in 1729. It was then that it was decided to rebuild a spacious church in his honor. There was no need to choose a place, since near Charles Square there was a cramped and small chapel named after John of Nepomuk. Instead, it was already unable to accommodate new parishioners by that time, and it was decided to build a new majestic church. The first stone was laid in 1730, and construction was completed eight years later.
Exterior
The Church of St. John of Nepomuk was built in the Baroque style. Its richly decorated facade faces Visegrad Avenue, from where one can see that a wide open staircase, built in 1776, leads to its main entrance. Initially, the staircase was not decorated with sculptures of saints; they were added later. The facade itself is marked by two towers, slightly turned towards each other. They are decorated with unique concave and curved stucco elements finished in marble. The height of the towers reaches 35 meters, and on their tops the domes are marked with decorative gilded crosses. In the towers, spiral staircases in the Baroque style stretch all the way to the bell tower.
Interior
The interior decoration of the church is not inferior to the external beauty. In the large hall, the church vaults are decorated with a fresco, the plot of which is dedicated to the legend of St. John of Nepomuk. The fresco was created by the hands of the artist Karl Kovar in 1748. The main altar is interesting for the wooden statue of St. John of Nepomuk, which was made by Jan Brokoff. The statue soon became the model on which its famous bronze “sister” was created. It stands on the Charles Bridge, attracting crowds of tourists.
Captivating in its appearance, the Church of St. John of Nepomuk is an excellent example of Prague Baroque, and its history may seem interesting to those who want to get to know the Czech capital better.
One of the interesting and unforgettable monuments of Warsaw, St. John’s Cathedral, is one of the objects that every guest of the Polish capital should visit. Perhaps many consider it the main temple of the city.
Interesting facts about St. John's Cathedral
St. John's Cathedral in Warsaw was erected on the site of a wooden chapel in the 14th century in the brick Gothic genre. It was built as a place for the coronation and funeral of princes. Initially, the religious building was an ordinary church, but over time it became increasingly important. By the 16th century, St. John's Cathedral had become the most important church in the country.
In the 17th century, the Gothic temple changed in the spirit of that time to the Baroque style. Warsaw Cathedral becomes one of the richest Polish religious buildings. And this became possible because when decorating the interior, unique works were used, donated by kings and nobility. For example, the altar was decorated with the painting “Madonna with Saints John the Baptist and Stanislaus” by the artist Giacomo Palma. In the 17th century, the basilica was connected by a corridor to the Royal Castle.
Warsaw Cathedral is a witness to many events such as the coronation of King Stanisław August Poniatowski in 1764. Figures of Polish culture and history are buried here - Stefan Wyszynski (archbishop), Gabriel Narutowicz (first president of Poland), Mazovian princes, Henryk Sienkiewicz (writer) and many others. Of particular importance is the fact that it was here that the first European Constitution was adopted in May 1791.
The basilica was significantly damaged already in 1939 from raids, and in 1944 it became the scene of military operations - German tanks broke into the building twice. After the uprising, it was blown up again, destroying 90% of the buildings. On the wall of the newly built temple you can see an interesting detail - part of a tank caterpillar. This is a reminder of what the iconic building had to endure during the war.
After the war, the original shape of the Warsaw cathedral was restored, and the original height of the roof and the shape of the facade were retained. When you enter from a crowded noisy street under the arches of the portal, you find yourself in a completely different Warsaw, it seems that you have stepped into the past. In June 1960, Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski consecrated the reconstructed temple.
What to see in St. John's Cathedral
The attention of tourists is attracted by the beautiful chapel with a breathtaking star ceiling, the medieval Holy Cross, the extraordinary figure of Christ with natural hair (donated by Jurga Borichko) and the interesting marble sculpture over the tomb of Malakhovsky (the work of Thorvaldsen). At the end of the 20th century, the ashes of Stanislav Poniatowski, the last Polish king, were transferred to the temple.
Today, Warsaw's St. John's Cathedral is an international center for the promotion of sacred organ music, hosting festivals and concerts. Wedding ceremonies are often held in the temple. It is generally accepted that marriages concluded here are blessed by John the Baptist himself.
In historical sources, the first information about the Catholic parish of the city reaches the second half of the 16th century. The center of the parish was the Church of St. Andrew, which was located in the western outskirts of the city area near the Lutsk Gate. Written mention of this old The church was founded in 1596.
In 1625, Prince A. Zaslavsky approved the replacement of soil between the church and the Bernardines for the latter to build a monastery complex. According to this agreement, the church was moved to the northern part of the city center, where it is still located today. Historian V. Gupalo suggests that the church was built in the place where Prince Janusz of Ostrog settled the Bernardines who served at the castle chapel.
The history of the parish church is supplemented by books of his visits, which are located in the Dubna Nature Reserve. These books contain reports for the years 1799, 1810, 1814 and 1816. The first book records a document granting in 1612 by Vladislav-Dominik Zaslavsky the right to provide fish for the duration of the post of the Dubno pleban. In 1676, Prince Dmitry Korybut Vishnevetsky, the Belz voivode, crown hetman, transferred the village of Trostyanets with the village of Ivaninichi to the church. The fundushi of Princess Teofil-Ludwika Lyubomirskaya, the Mstislav hunter Adam Bogdashevsky, the commissar of the Dubensky ordination, local government, the Lutsk and Dubensky Jewish kahal were also recorded. These grants were measured in money (from 3,000 zlotys to 7,000), real estate (estates, lands), decrees and all kinds of privileges.
But in the turbulent late Middle Ages, among the natural and human elements, it was almost impossible for a wooden temple to survive.
Only over the last century of existence in wooden form inIn 1725 the church was destroyed by a strong storm,The scorching flames in 1749 and 1811 consumed the entire church of St. John of Nepomuk, despite the patronage of all the owners of Dubno Ostrozhsky, Zaslavsky, Lubomirsky and the active support of the local flock. After the last fire, all his property was moved to Bernardine monastery, which became the temporary shelter of the parish.The services of the former farny church were held there and other rituals were carried out. While the temporary church was in operation, construction began on a more reliable one made of stone. In 1816, a deep foundation was laid, walls up to six cubits were erected, but the unstable political situation in the country suspended construction for almost three decades.
The official date for completion of its construction was 1830, when the temple was consecrated.Farnium Church, built by the local priest Fr. Alois Osinsky.Moreover, money for construction was collected by the whole world, including generous donations from the Jewish kagala of Lutsk and Dubno.
Architecturally, the church was a three-nave basilica, built of stone and brick, followed by plastering. It is an original representative of Romanesque architecture with small inclusions of Renaissance elements: an arched niche with the figure of St. John of Nepomuk, a design of the central entrance with a broken pediment line, a columned portal of the central entrance of the Doric order, a wide frieze framed by profiled cornices, high arches of window openings, blades of the side facades , which is complemented by a three-pylon bell tower in the southeastern corner of the complex.
The interior of the church, designed in the same restrained style, is distinguished by two colonnades of the Doric order separating the naves, a wooden spiral staircase to the choir, cross-shaped endings on the side and semi-circular on the formwork of the central naves, pilasters of the Tuscan order, unbraced cornices, polished stone floor slabs.
More than half a century later, on the façade of the church of St. John of Nepomuk in Dubno, the Latin inscription “GLORIA TIBI DOMINE” appeared again, which means “Glory to you, Lord!”
Three-pylon arched Bell tower on the high base of the complex with a torn triangular pediment, the central part of which is decorated with a square superstructure with two bells under a hipped roof with a crowning cross. Its decorative elements include a voluminous geometric pattern of the lower part and a profiled cornice.
During the 19th century, the Church of St. John of Nepomuk not only regained its former glory as a religious stronghold of Catholicism in the Dubno land (its parish included not only the city community, but also believers from thirty villages of the district), but also turned into a center of mercy and education: a school operated there in which the basics of writing, reading and Christianity were taught, and also under his auspices there operated a hospital with a shelter for the infirm.
From a historical point of view, there is also other information that is presented in the visitation books of the far church. For example, the parish of the church included 30 villages of the Dubensky district, where the most Catholics lived in Ditinichi (54 people), Molodava (44), Mirogoshche (40), Tarakanovo (in the document Trokanov, 34), and fewer (1 person each) in Outgrown, Bushe, Sudobichi. In the inventories of real and movable property belonging to the church of the villages of Sady, Trostyanets, the village of Ivaninichi, the suburb of Zabrama, name lists of subjects are submitted. In the villages, exclusively Ukrainian surnames appear, and in Yuriditsa (from the rampart to the Ilyinsky Cathedral) - exclusively Polish ones. A detailed description of lands and hayfields, estates (Trostyanetskoye and Dubenskoye), livestock, poultry, forests and gardens is also provided. A lot of space is devoted to descriptions of the interior and paraphernalia of the church (altar, icons, crosses, tabernacles, priests’ clothing, books). In the church books we find the names of the streets of the city of Dubna - Zamkova, Farskaya, Panskaya, Panenska, Tverdaya, Ladnaya, Chernechchina, Zabrama (literally - Zabrama of Lutsk), Bernardinskaya, Surmitska, Surmitsky suburb.
Since 1927, Stanislav Kuzminsky began to perform the duties of probosch (rector) in the Church of St. John of Nepomuk. He coped with an extensive plebania (service and economic buildings and a staff of priests and assistants), combining pastoral and economic services. On May 18, 1942, in the nomination of the Lutsk bishop, Stanislav Kuzminsky received the degree of infulat of the Olitsa Chapter. This degree provided the priest with a number of privileges that were equivalent to episcopal privileges.It was to this rector of the Church of St. John of Nepomuk that the newborn Jewish children of Dubno owed their salvation, since during the terrible years of World War II he saved many of them from the German genocide by issuing a baptismal certificate.The Gestapo arrested the robber, but through the patronage of the Radziwill princes, they released him, putting him under surveillance. In 1944, Kuzminsky was warned about a new arrest. He hastily left Dubno, not risking tempting fate. For special services to his homeland, infulat Kuzminsky was awarded the Order of the White Eagle - an extremely high award in Poland.
According to the "Universal Additional Practical Explanatory Dictionary". I. Mostitsky, published in 2005–2012, the phrase “farny church” means church. parish, belonging only to the parish, and not to any monastic order, etc. "Faroi"called and "coming", So "headlight" means "main church of the parish".
The church is named after John of Nepomuk, who was born approximately between 1340 and 1350 in the settlement of Pomuk (modern Czech Nepomuk), not far from the Cistercian monastery at the Green Mountain hill. In the place where the Church of St. John of Nepomuk is located today, previously (according to oral sources) there was a house where John was born. Jan's father, Welfin, was mayor of the village of Pomuk from 1355 to 1367; nothing is known about his mother. Jan received his basic education at the school at the Church of St. James.
In 1370 he became a notary for the Archbishop of Prague, and in 1380 he was ordained a priest.
After receiving the rank, he continued his education, studied law, received a bachelor's degree in Prague in 1381, and a doctorate in 1387 in Padua.
In 1389 he became a canon of the Visegrad Chapter and was appointed vicar general of the Prague archbishopric.
The Czech king Wenceslas IV (1378-1419) was constantly in conflict with the highest clergy of the country, defended the priority of secular power and interfered in internal church affairs, considering the Prague archbishopric one of his main opponents in domestic politics.
According to legend, in the very place where the saint’s body plunged into the Vltava, a glow in the form of 5 stars appeared above the water; since then Nepomuk has been depicted with five stars above his head. The place where Jan was thrown over the railing can be seen on the right hand on the way across the bridge towards Mala Strana; this place is marked by a cross embedded in the railing of the bridge and two copper nails not far from the cross.
Body of St. Jana was recovered from the Vltava and subsequently buried in St. Vitus Cathedral in Prague.
In Soviet timesIn the premises of the church there was a gymnasium of the local sports school.
In 1990 the building received the status of an architectural monument. The Roman Catholic parish in Dubno was revived in the beginning. 90s At first, Catholics had the right to worship only on Sundays and holidays, and already in 1991 the church was unofficially returned to the believers. Well, in 1994. The city authorities returned the temple to the local Roman Catholic flock.
Judging by the inscriptions on old photographs, the street on which the bone is located the tree was called Farnoy.
In 2012, the 400th anniversary of the parish was celebrated here.
The Church of St. John of Nepomuk is not only a temple and a place of pilgrimage. This is the legend of the saint in whose honor it was erected, encrypted and embodied in stone, the fruit of the ambitions of Abbot Vaclav Veimluv and the genius of the architect Jan Blazej Santini.
Not far from the town of Žďár nad Sázavou, on the forested Green Mountain, the Pilgrimage Church of St. John of Nepomuk is located, which is one of the most original Christian church buildings.
History of the temple
The first stone was laid in 1719, and in 1722 the church was solemnly consecrated in honor of St. John of Nepomuk. The construction was financed by a Cistercian monastery (led by Abbot Vaclav Veimluv), which was located in the city of Zdiar nad Sazavou. This is the most famous creation of the architect Jan Blazej Santini Aichla. The church was built specifically to honor St. John of Nepomuk, which determined the originality of its architecture.
Watch my video
The fact is that, according to legend, when the martyr John of Nepomuk was drowned, a crown of five stars appeared over his body. That is why there are stars in the interior decoration of the church. The six-pointed ones are a symbol of Christ (Stars of Bethlehem), the five-pointed ones are a reminder of John of Nepomuk, the eight-pointed ones are one of the symbols of the Cistercian Order. But there is another version that the six-pointed stars are a tribute to Veimluva and Santini’s passion for Kabbalah.
Architecture and interior
The architectural design of the church dedicated to John of Nepomuk is unusual: the church in the Baroque Gothic style is shaped like a five-pointed star. The number five is used everywhere in this church: the church has five exits, the altar has five niches, and in the center there are two times five chapels.
The main altar is decorated with five angels and five stars on the globe, representing the five continents where Christianity spread. The saint is depicted standing on the globe. Three small angels are visible above his head: one holds a key in his hand, and the second a seal, a symbol of the saint’s silence.
On the side altars the holy apostles-evangelists are depicted: John is depicted with an eagle, Luke with a bull, Mark with a lion and Matthew with a book. The Church of St. John of Nepomuk is surrounded by a cemetery, which is also shaped like a ten-pointed star.
In 1994, the Pilgrimage Church of St. John of Nepomuk on Green Mountain was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List.
Church opening hours
April, October: Sat-Sun 09:00-17:00;
May – September: Mon-Sun and holidays 09:00-17:00.
Entrance to the Church of St. John of Nepomuk is only possible with a guide. Duration of the tour is 45 minutes.
Entrance fees
Adult – 110 CZK;
with a discount (children 6-18 years old, students, pensioners) – 60 CZK.
How to get there
You can get to the Pilgrimage Church of St. John of Nepomuk on Zelena Gora from the station by bus 1A, 1B, 1C, 2A, 5, 6, stop Bezručova, u pily. Then you need to walk 500 meters until you turn right onto the street. Sychrova and climb along it to the church. Along the way, you will see beautiful views of the city and the Konventsky Pond, the nearby forest and Zdiarsky Castle.
My rating of the place: 5
How can I save up to 20% on hotels?
It's very simple - look not only on booking. I prefer the search engine RoomGuru. He searches for discounts on Booking and 70 other booking sites simultaneously.
St. John's Church is a Gothic church located in Gdansk. One of the most important monuments in the city.
The first mention of the small wooden chapel of St. Nicholas dates back to 1358. In 1360, construction began on a new three-nave church on the site of the previous one. The work was completed at the beginning of the 15th century, but the builders left room for a tower, which was planned to be built in the future. In 1415 a new altar was created. In 1456, Bishop John MacArthur divided the city into six parishes, and St. John's Church became a parish church. In 1465, the Church of St. John received star vaults. In 1543, the bell tower was destroyed by fire.
In the 15th and 16th centuries, patrons financed the construction of a total of 13 altars in the church. In 1612, the most beautiful stone altar by Abraham van der Block was built, which has survived to this day.
During World War II, the church burned down. In the post-war years, St. John's Church was not included in the list of buildings in need of planned reconstruction. Most of the surviving items were transferred to the Church of St. Mary in Gdańsk. Reconstruction of the church facades began in the late 1960s, but the inside of the church remained in a ruined state.
In 1991, the church was transferred to the Catholic diocese, after which Sunday and holiday services began to be held here. In 1996, a thorough reconstruction of the church began: repairs and strengthening of external walls, internal work, as well as archaeological excavations. In December 2012, the Baroque epitaphs of Laurence Fabricius, Johann Hutzing and Ultrich Kantzler returned to their places from St. Mary's Church.