Church of Saint James the Greater, Baroque church in Kunratice, Czech Republic.
The Church of Saint James the Greater is a single-nave Roman Catholic church in Prague-Kunratice, rebuilt in high Czech Baroque style in 1730–1736, probably to a design by František Maxmilián Kaňka, by builder Tomáš Haffenecker. Its layout is a circular nave with a dome and lantern, a rectangular presbytery and sacristy to the east, and a porch with a square tower and choir loft to the west.
A early Gothic structure from the 13th century stood here, and from the first half of the 14th century it served as a parish church with patronage rights of the Bohuslavice family, linked to a fortress held around 1332 by Frenclin Jakubův and then his brother Prokop. Parts of its straight perimeter walls survive in today's sacristy. Tomáš Haffenecker rebuilt it in its present high-baroque central form in 1730–1736, probably to a design by František Maxmilián Kaňka, at the expense of Prague judge Jan Arnošt Václav Goltz.
The church has been dedicated to Saint James the Greater since its founding because it stood on the European network of the Camino de Santiago. Its main altar shows the saint as a pilgrim with scallop shells on his cloak and a walking staff. The side altars are dedicated to the Czech patrons and the Fourteen Holy Helpers.
The church stands on the site of a former cemetery, enclosed by a perimeter wall; the neo-Gothic tomb of the Korb family of Weidenheim, built in 1868 where the baroque ossuary once stood, is in this enclosure. The new cemetery was laid out north of the church at the start of the 20th century. The two-arm staircase leads up to the gallery (kruchta).
The main altar holds a glass case with a wax figure of Saint John the Roman, brought from the Roman catacombs by Prague judge Jan Arnošt Václav Goltz, who paid for the church's 1730s rebuilding; a skeleton is kept inside the figure.
The community of curious travelers
AroundUs brings together thousands of curated places, local tips, and hidden gems, enriched daily by 92,464 contributors worldwide.