The choir portal of Hellvi Church carries a runic inscription which proclaims that a man called Lafrans Botvidarson built the church. The oldest part of the church is the tower, Romanesque in style. The upper part of the tower collapsed following a storm in 1534, hence its unusual shape. The nave and choir date from the middle of the 13th century and display an early form of Gothic style. The nave consists of two aisles, divided by two central columns. The choir is square in form and the church lacks an apse; the straight eastern wall has a group of three Gothic windows.
The altarpiece bears the initials of the Swedish king Charles XII and the date 1726. The pulpit is older, from 1633. A gallery that today is placed in the north-western corner of the interior was built in 1704 and paid for by 16 skippers from Sønderborg in Denmark; a testimony to intense maritime contacts. It is decorated with pictures of the apostles, Christ and two saints. The baptismal font is from the 17th century but with a copper dish from 1704; the latter also a gift by a Sønderborg skipper.
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.