Church of Saint Francis of Assisi, Baroque church near Charles Bridge in Old Town, Czech Republic
The Church of Saint Francis of Assisi is a Baroque church on Křižovnické Square in Prague's Old Town, built 1679–1685 to a design by Jean-Baptiste Mathey. Its tan-stone facade with pink trim carries statues of Bohemian patrons and a green copper dome. Inside, an oval domed nave is covered by Václav Vavřinec Reiner's Last Judgment fresco, with marble panels and side chapels forming a Greek cross.
The original structure was established in 1252 and was connected to the nearby Monastery of the Knights of the Cross with the Red Star, a male religious order originating from Bohemia. The building was later rebuilt and received its current Baroque appearance.
The church is the main temple of the Knights of the Cross with the Red Star, founded in 1252 by Agnes of Bohemia. Organists here included Christoph Willibald Gluck and Antonín Dvořák. The facade's five patron statues date from 1723–1824.
The church is oriented north–south because it was built on a cramped plot, so the main altar stands on the north side rather than the east. The lower church, with the early Gothic portal and fragments of the medieval nave, is reached through the monastery corridor and connects to the upper church through three small barred openings in the floor.
Beneath the current Baroque structure lie foundations and sections of the original Gothic building from the 13th century that remain visible in the crypt below. These hidden layers reveal the many transformations the building underwent across the centuries.
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