St. Martin Rotunda, Prague, Czech Republic

The Chapel of St. Martin is the only completely preserved Romanesque building in Vyšehrad and one of the oldest in Prague. In was built around 1100 in the eastern part of the fortified outer ward. Between 1100 and 1300, the Rotrunda was surrounded by a cemetery. The building survived the Hussite Wars and was used as the municipal prison of the Town of the Vyšehrad Hill.

During the Thirty Years’ War, it was used as gunpowder storage, from 1700 to 1750, it was renovated and reconsecrated. In 1784, the chapel was closed passed to the military management which kept using it as a warehouseand a cannon-amunition manufacturing facility. In 1841, it was meant to be demolished to give way to the construction of a new road through Vyšehrad. Eventually, only the original western entrance was walled up and replaced with a new one in the sountren side. The dilapidating Rotunda subsequently served as a shelter for the poor. Later, it was purchased by the Vyšehrad Chapter which had the building reconstructed in 1878-1880 and uses it up to the present day for sacred purposes.

References:

praha-vysehrad.cz

User Reviews

Miguel Panda (16 months ago)
Beautiful church in the centre of Prague.

Stavros Ragkavis (2 years ago)
Another artifact hidden in Vysehrad Casttle.

Colin McCabe (2 years ago)
Nice to see as part of visit to the park

Adam Faber (2 years ago)
Although small, this 11th century romanesque church is really worth visiting, especially because It's now open to the public for a small fee (about 1€)

Sudarshan Pise (2 years ago)
The Rotunda of St. Martin (Czech Rotunda svatého Martina ) is located on the Vyšehrad Fortress in Prague . It is the only architectural monument of Vyšehrad that has been preserved in its original form and the oldest preserved rotunda in the city. The Romanesque rotunda was probably built in the last third of the 11th century under Vratislav II , but the building was first mentioned in writing in 1396. [1] The central building has a semicircular apse decorated with pilaster strips . After the construction of the baroque Vyšehrad fortress, the church was profaned and served as a powder magazine. At the instigation of Karl Chotek von Chotkow, a planned demolition could be prevented. After 1875 the rotunda was renovated and restored to its original state, but the entrance on the west side was walled up and replaced by a neo-Romanesque portal on the south. The marble altar and the paintings on the inner walls, which take up motifs from the Vyšehrad Coronation Codex (end of the 11th century), also date from this period. [2]

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