Church of Our Lady before Týn

This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove these template messages) This article relies largely or entirely on a single source. Relevant discussion may be found on the talk page. Please help improve this article by introducing citations to additional sources. Find sources: "Church of Our Lady before Týn" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (September 2015) This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (September 2015) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

Church of Our Lady before Týn
Kostel Matky Boží před Týnem Parish Church of the Mother of God before Týn
Roman Catholic
Website	www.tyn.cz/cz
History
Founded	14th century
Architecture
Functional status	Parish Church
Architectural type	Gothic
Specifications
Number of spires	2
Spire height	80 metres (260 ft)
Bells	6
Administration
Diocese	Archdiocese of Prague
Clergy
Archbishop	Archbishop Dominik Duka

The Church of the Mother of God before Týn (in Czech Kostel Matky Boží před Týnem, also Týnský chrám ("Týn Church") or just Týn), or Church of Our Lady before Týn, is a Gothic church and a dominant feature of the Old Town of Prague, Czech Republic. It has been the main church of this part of the city since the 14th century. The church's two towers are 80 m high, and each tower's spire is topped by eight smaller spires in two layers of four.

History

In the 11th century, the Old Town plaza area was occupied by a

, future archbishop of Prague, who became the church's vicar in 1427. The building was completed in the 1450s, while the gable and northern tower were completed shortly thereafter during the reign of George of Poděbrady (1453–1471). His sculpture was placed on the gable, below a huge golden chalice, the symbol of the Hussites. The southern tower was not completed until 1511, under architect Matěj Rejsek.

The lost

vault.

Renovation works carried out in 1876–1895 were later reversed during extensive exterior renovation works in the years 1973–1995. Interior renovation is still in progress.

Design

The northern portal is an example of Gothic sculpture from the Parler workshop, with a relief depicting the Crucifixion. The main entrance is located on the church's western face, through a narrow passage between the houses in front of the church.

Architecture

The strikingly vertical, basilically arranged three-aisled Gothic

are finished with deep polygonal chapels with five sides of the octagon. The side aisles are vaulted with five cross-ribbed vaults on an almost square floor plan, which is joined by one cross rib vault in the tower. The nave and the presbytery are then vaulted by six rectangular, wide-ranging fields of compressed Baroque arches with triangular sections. The side aisles have retained the original Gothic ribbed vault. The church is illuminated by a number of cantilevered Gothic windows with stone tracery. The church is accessible by four Gothic portals. The northern portal has a relief in the tympanum depicting three scenes from Christ's Passion in multi- figured compositions. High-quality sculptural work is one of the most important monuments of Gothic sculpture of the pre- Hussite period in our country. The pair of towers is topped with decorated cantilevered Late Gothic octagonal helmets, which are complemented by a gallery, four corner turrets, and, halfway through, another four decorative turrets. There is a Gothic gable containing the Baroque relief of the Madonna, that is surrounded by rows of finials in between the towers.

Furnishing

Gothic

The original medieval furnishing have been preserved in the interior:

• A stone baldaquin from 1493, probably from the workshop of Matěj Rejsek which originally covered the tomb of bishop Augustin Luciano of Mirandola. The baldaquin's floorplan is a square. It consists of four medium-sized stone polychrome abutments, which are terminated by the so-called ogee arch. These arches are complemented by corner decorative turrets and enriched with Gothic ornaments. Statues are placed on each support, roughly in the second third. The supports that carry the architrave culminate in finials. From the eastern side, the baldaquin is decorated with paintings by Karel Škréta.
• An altar with a central image of Christ's baptism was carved in high relief around 1530 by the Master IP (or Monogrammist IP), who was active in the circles of courtly patrons near today's Czech-German border. The images from Christ's life carved in the side panels on the wings show the influence of prints made by Albrecht Dürer.^[3]
• The baptistery of 1414 (the oldest and largest in Prague)
• A stone pulpit in the nave
• Two works of the so-called Týn Calvary Master from the 15th century that are very valuable: Madonna of the Týn and the Calvary sculpture at the ending of the north aisle.

Baroque

The church's furniture is mostly

.

Gallery

• 
  Tycho Brahe's grave, new tombstone from 1901
• 
  Interior of the church
• 
  On the left side, the stone baldaquin from 1493 by Matěj Rejsek
• 
  Pipe organs by Jan J. Mundt
• 
  Church's floorplan
• 
  Stone pulpit

See also

• List of Jesuit sites

References

Paces, Cynthia (2009). Prague Panoramas: National Memory and Sacred Space in the Twentieth Century (Russian and East European Studies) 1st Edition. Prague: University of Pittsburgh Press. p. 352.

.

Literature

• Dobroslav Líbal: Katalog gotické architektury v České republice do husitských válek, Prague 2001.
• Pavel Kalina, Jiří Koťátko: Praha 1310–1419, Kapitoly o vrcholné gotice, Prague 2004.

External links

• Information on Prague Information Service website