St. Nicholas Church on Lesser Town

Before you go all Google crazy on me and tell me that the pictures I have are not of St. Nicholas Church on Old Town Square in Prague, let me tell you that you are absolutely right. My pictures are of St. Nicholas Church on Lesser Town. There are three St. Nicholas Churches in Prague. How is that fair to my research endeavors?

St. Nicholas wasn't a church that I was originally intending on visiting, but since my doorstep dropped itself near the baroque giant of a church, I decided I might as well go visit. As a point of reference to my life, I've been sleeping a lot. Like, at least ten hours a night. Not that I'm that tired, just that my days are full enough to allow for things like excessive sleeping, and I do love to sleep. But, as I found out when I climbed the front stairs to the church surround by French tourists, sleeping too late can be vaguely detrimental. If you get into the church between 8 and 9 in the morning to pray, it's free. They only start to charge you (a couple dozen Czech crowns- I don't think it was much over a dollar or two) if you get there after that. So, as has been suggested before, the best way to see a church is to go to church, because they won't charge you then. But then again, I wouldn't have all these wonderful pictures to show you. And I have many wonderful pictures to show you.

Upon walking into the sanctuary, I was astounded. So. Much. Decoration. Like a baroque piece of music, with a billion notes flying across at least four different keys and three time signatures, there was ornamentation everywhere, from the side chapels to every single column to the side altars in the transept to the ceiling, decked out in a mural.

This is why I'm going on this trip- because there is no way, in word or in picture, that I can accurately express the amazing ornamentation of this space.

Even the ceiling is trying really hard to impress you.

It's amazing how something as simple as a pulpit can be so ornate.

I'd have to go back to my guide book to see what everything was, though my favorite part were the four virtues above the four Eastern Church Fathers on the four columns in the transept. They're Wisdom, Righteousness, Moderation and Bravery, which don't seem to be exactly the same as the cardinal virtues, though, honestly, English leaves us with quite a few words to choose for translations.

Figuring out the meaning of the statues, beyond what my little pamphlet tells me, has been quite an adventure. Trying to figure out what they meant by the Four Eastern Church Fathers has been particularly confusing. I just thought you called particularly influential men the early church Church Fathers, like St. Augustine and people like that. I have a real need of a church history class.

My deductive reasoning tells me this is a church father. Just look at his hat.

It's hard to pick what to describe in this church- there's a lifetime supply of statues and carvings and pictures and details and I almost felt guilty brushing by them with just a picture or two. The organ was apparently played by Mozart, but I looked at it long enough to appreciate the plethora of instruments in the decorations and take a few pictures.

The pulpit is crazy ornate- I can't imagine standing up there, much less preaching from there. There are many side altars, each with their own story. I could talk about the dome and the bell tower, which are visible in the Prague skyline. The bell tower was apparently used during the Cold War era to monitor the western embassies. Did I mention there are many embassies in Prague? There are many embassies. Everywhere.

Maybe the least tourist-y of the sights of the church was the chapel of St. Barbara, just to the left after the entrance. It's a chapel of the dead, which is sad because I like St. Barbara's story. She was locked in a tower by her father but secretly converted to Christianity. Her father took out his sword to kill her when she found out, but she was miraculously taken to a field nearby. The shepherd who told on her got turned into stone. In the end, she was beheaded. The sentence was carried out by her father, who was struck by lighting on the way home. She's now the patron saint of anyone who works with explosives.

St. Barbara's chapel was quiet, though. It had a prayerful atmosphere. It also reminded me that St. Nicholas is an active church. There were candles in the main nave to light, and in the chapel there was a statue of St. Anthony, with pictures of loved ones surrounding it.

And to my poor little over sentimenatlized heart, this one statue was more beautiful than anything I could see in the nave. Oh, these people.