Church of Saint Clemens in New Town, Prague, Gothic church in New Town, Czech Republic
The Church of Saint Clemens is a Gothic sanctuary in Prague's New Town featuring pointed arches and ribbed stone vaults typical of medieval religious structures. The building stands along Klimentská Street with its characteristic vertical lines and masonry that define this part of the neighborhood.
A pre-Romanesque church existed here by the late 10th century, documented in a 993 charter of Břevnov Monastery, making it the second-oldest church on the Vltava's right bank after Vyšehrad. It was replaced by a Romanesque church at the end of the 12th century, which served the Dominicans from 1225 and was rebuilt in Gothic form around 1400. Utraquists vaulted the nave in 1578; from 1784 to 1850 it was a granary, and since 1850 it has belonged to the Evangelical Church.
The church takes its name from the relics of Pope Clement, brought to Bohemia by Constantine and Methodius. Since 1850 it has served the Evangelical Church of Czech Brethren, which also lends it to the Anglican parish of the Old Catholic Church for services.
The church stands in Klimentská Street in the Poříčí area of New Town, not in the Old Town. It is the seat of a congregation of the Evangelical Church of Czech Brethren, which also lends it to the Anglican parish of the Old Catholic Church, so visits depend on services.
In 1793 the New Town miller Michalovic bought the deconsecrated church, added a floor and used it as a granary until August 1850, when the Evangelical pastor Bedřich Vilém Košut bought it for 27,500 guilders raised by collection. The granary floors were then removed.
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