Church of Saint Lawrence in Malá Strana, Hellichova, Former church and concert hall in Malá Strana, Prague, Czech Republic
The Church of Saint Lawrence under Petřín is a former Romanesque parish church, probably from the mid-12th century, with a Gothic rib-vaulted nave added around 1378 and a high Baroque presbytery from the first half of the 18th century. Since 1985–1991 it has served as a concert and exhibition hall, with a raised roof that changed its silhouette.
A Romanesque church, probably from the mid-12th century, was built on an older burial site. Around 1378 it was rebuilt in Gothic style, with a rib-vaulted nave and porch added on the south side and the chancel raised and re-vaulted. After the Thirty Years' War it became a filial church and its orientation was reversed: a new triumphal arch was cut through the former west front into a new presbytery, which was given a high Baroque treatment in the first half of the 18th century. Suppressed in 1784, it served as a tenement house from 1804 to 1816 and remained part of house no. 390 until 1880.
The church was deconsecrated in 1784 and served as a rental house until 1880. Since 1985–1991 it has been rebuilt as a concert and exhibition hall, and the adjacent building houses Pražské jaro, the organisation behind the international Prague Spring music festival, which uses the church for concerts.
The building stands on Hellichova street in Malá Strana, below Petřín Hill. It is no longer a parish church: since the 1985–1991 reconstruction it serves as a concert and exhibition hall, used by the Pražské jaro music festival organisation based next door. The former cemetery area around it is enclosed by the restored perimeter wall with blind niches.
The cemetery beside the church predates the building itself and fell out of use when the church was abolished in 1784. Its original perimeter wall, with blind niches closed by segmental arches, was restored during the 1985–1991 reconstruction.
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