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

Žižkov

Žižkov 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 Prague 8 and Prague 10. Prior to 1922, Žižkov was an independent city....

, a cadastral district of Prague

Prague

Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...

, Czech Republic

Czech Republic

The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....

. The Baroque

Baroque architecture

Baroque architecture is a term used to describe the building style of the Baroque era, begun in late sixteenth century Italy, that took the Roman vocabulary of Renaissance architecture and used it in a new rhetorical and theatrical fashion, often to express the triumph of the Catholic Church and...

 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

Jean Baptiste Mathey was a French architect and painter born in Dijon.Between 1675 and 1694 Mathey enjoyed a remarkable career in which his French planning and devotion to classical rationality were a conscious artistic challenge to established taste.Mathey was commissioned by the Archbishop of...

.

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, New Town

New Town, Prague

The New Town is a quarter in the city of Prague in the Czech Republic. New Town is the youngest and largest of the five independent towns that today comprise the historic center of modern Prague...

, and Jewish Quarter

Josefov (Prague)

Josefov is a town quarter and the smallest cadastral area of Prague, today Czech Republic, formerly the Jewish ghetto of the town. It is completely surrounded by Old Town...

. 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 Cemetery

Olšany Cemetery is the largest graveyard in Prague, Czech Republic, once having as many as two million burials. The cemetery is particularly noted for its many remarkable art nouveau monuments.- History :...

 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.

Structure and furnishings

The church’s shape is an elliptical dome (because of which the church is incorrectly called the "Rotunda"). Arcades stretch between the columns, supporting a gallery.

The main Neo-Renaissance

Neo-Renaissance

Renaissance Revival is an all-encompassing designation that covers many 19th century architectural revival styles which were neither Grecian nor Gothic but which instead drew inspiration from a wide range of classicizing Italian modes...

 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

Ignác Raab

Ignác Viktorin Raab was a Czech Jesuit and is considered one of the most important Czech painters of the 18th century....

 in 1760, divided into two zones. At the top is the Virgin Mary as the Queen of Heaven

Queen of Heaven

Queen of Heaven is a title given to the Blessed Virgin Mary by Christians, mainly of the Roman Catholic Church, and also, to some extent, in the Anglican, Lutheran, and Eastern Orthodox churches, to whom the title is a consequence of the Council of Ephesus in the fifth century, where the Virgin...

 with angels and at the bottom are patron saints invoked against plague epidemics: St. Roch, St. Sebastian, and St. Rosalia. 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 St. Joseph, together with a statue of St. John the Baptist, which comes from Switzerland

Switzerland

Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

. The Stations of the Cross

Stations of the Cross

Stations of the Cross refers to the depiction of the final hours of Jesus, and the devotion commemorating the Passion. The tradition as chapel devotion began with St...

 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

A 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...

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

Baptismal font

A baptismal font is an article of church furniture or a fixture used for the baptism of children and adults.-Aspersion and affusion fonts:...

 from 1595 from tin-smith Matthew Voříška of Roudnice

Roudnice nad Labem

Roudnice nad Labem is a small town on left bank of the Elbe River . It has about 13 500 inhabitants and covers an area of 16,67 km². The town is situated near the famous hill Říp, which is well known for its legendary connection with Praotec Čech....

 on the Elbe

Elbe

The Elbe is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Krkonoše Mountains of the northwestern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia , then Germany and flowing into the North Sea at Cuxhaven, 110 km northwest of Hamburg...

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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.

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