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St.Peter’s Church was built atop the ruins of a Roman villa and a merovingian tomb. A sketch made in 1571 by the abbot Bertels of the Münster Abbey shows a chapel with a rather simple architecture. It was replaced by a three-nave church later.
Dominique-Henri de Neunheuser, vicar of Steinsel, bought in 1785 two stone altars from the Dominican monastery of Marienthal, which had been suspended under the reign of emperor Joseph II of Austria. One of the altars featured a stone statue of St. Peter of Milan. That’s how the veneration of this saint came to Steinsel.
In the mid-1800s, the church was decaying and a part even fell into ruins. It was decided to dismantle the old structure. On June 12, 1851, the first stone for a new and larger building was laid. It was a neogothic style sanctuary planned by the building conductor Jean-Baptiste Kintzelé of Heisdorf. The new church was inaugurated on December 19, 1852. The main altar of the dismantled church was sold to the Wormeldange parish church, where it is still conserved today. The two lateral altars remaint at Steinsel and advantageously fitted into the new church. The latter was consecrated in July 14, 1866 by the apostolic vicar, bishop Nicolas Adames. It is dedicated to St. Peter apostle. St. Peter of Milan is the second patron.
With the liturgical reforms of the Second Vatican Council, the choir was remoulded. The roughly sculptured altar bloc is a work of the artist Pitt Nicolas. The tabernacle structure is a combination of the same stone with carved oak beams aspiring towards heavenly light. Three of the choir stained glass windows were re-designed by Ben Heyart.
The interior of the church was renovated in 2004. The architectural elements were enhanced by a neogothic type polychromy.
References:The Clementinum is a historic complex of buildings in Prague. Until recently the complex hosted the National, University and Technical libraries, the City Library also being located nearby on Mariánské Náměstí. The Technical library and the Municipal library have moved to the Prague National Technical Library at Technická 6 since 2009. It is currently in use as the National Library of the Czech Republic.
Its history dates from the existence of a chapel dedicated to Saint Clement in the 11th century. A Dominican monastery was founded in the medieval period, which was transformed in 1556 to a Jesuit college. In 1622 the Jesuits transferred the library of Charles University to the Klementinum, and the college was merged with the University in 1654. The Jesuits remained until 1773, when the Klementinum was established as an observatory, library, and university by the Empress Maria Theresa of Austria.