Kostel Panny Marie na Slovanech, Gothic church in Nové Město, Prague, Czech Republic.
Kostel Panny Marie na Slovanech is a three-nave Gothic church standing within the Emmaus Monastery complex on Vyšehradská Street. The structure underwent significant reconstruction after World War II, resulting in its distinctive modern concrete front.
Charles IV founded the monastery with its church on 21 November 1347 for Croatian Benedictines from Tkon on the island of Pašman, who used the Slavic liturgy. The present church was consecrated on Easter Monday 1372 in the presence of the emperor and the young Wenceslaus IV; the Gospel of the road to Emmaus read that day gave the complex its name Emauzy.
The name "Na Slovanech" comes from the Croatian Benedictine monks of the Tkon Abbey on the island of Pašman, brought to Prague by Charles IV in 1347 to celebrate the liturgy in Slavonic. The church was consecrated on Easter Monday 1372, when the Gospel of the road to Emmaus is read, which gave the monastery its name Emauzy.
The church stands on Vyšehradská Street at the southern edge of the New Town, within the Emmaus Monastery grounds. The monastery complex is used today by several groups, among them the Ackermann-Gemeinde and the German-speaking Catholic community of Prague. The site is a national cultural monument, so parts of the grounds are not freely open.
The concrete west front by František Maria Černý, finished in 1968, echoes two shapes at once: the baroque twin towers lost in the 14 February 1945 US air raid and the tall gable of the medieval roof shown in old views of Prague.
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