Костел святого Томаша Church of St. Thomas

Rating 8110

The Church of St. Thomas (Thomas), located in the Small Town, is an architectural and cultural heritage of Prague. The church has stood for almost 800 years, having survived many events. Now the church together with the adjacent monastery is protected as a cultural monument of the Czech Republic. The Gothic church was founded during the reign of Czech King Wenceslas II in 1285. At the same time, the king, known for his religiosity, invited the Order of Augustinians to Prague. They received land and added a monastery to the church, where members of the order could live and be educated.

During the Hussite wars, the church was burned and almost destroyed. Works on its reconstruction were expensive for the Order, which significantly hampered the restoration of the church. Only in the middle of the XVI century the church was completely revived in the Renaissance style, but the next fire in 1500 again destroyed the church and the entire monastery complex.
Work on the restoration of the church in the style of the Renaissance continued throughout the XVI century. Only in 1593 on December 29 the church was rededicated.

Soon came the Thirty Years' War, which did not go unnoticed. The church was again completely destroyed. The architect Jan the Baptist Erna undertook its restoration, and in 1665-1675 a new baroque church was built. In 1727, the church was rebuilt again to get the look that can be seen today. It was the architect Kilian Ignatius Dinzenhofer who brought the Baroque style to the church.