To put it simply – in 863, the brothers Cyril and Methodius of Thessaloniki came to Moravia to spread Christianity and education. This happened at the request of Prince Rostislav and their mission was very successful. Perhaps the fact that both brothers knew our language at the time, as their mother was supposedly Slavic, contributed to this.
It can be said about it as about many conjectures from a time so distant – it can be true.
At that time, there was practically no settlement on the territory of today’s Karlín, where the church bearing the name of the two brothers stands. Although the first mention dates back to 993, when this area is listed among the lands belonging to the Břevnov Monastery, only agriculture was developed here until the 12th century, as there were frequent floods.
Of course, a thousand years after the mission of the two brothers, everything was different. In 1817, the village of Karlín was founded – it was named in honor of the wife of Emperor Francis I. Karolína Augusta.
With the approaching thousand-year anniversary, the idea of building a church dedicated to both brothers arose. The Church of Saints Cyril and Methodius. The foundation stone was laid in 1854, and in 1863 the building actually stood.
The church is huge. 75 meters long, 31 meters wide, the nave is almost 30 meters high and both towers are 78 meters high. It is even one of the largest painted sacral buildings in the world – there are 6000 m2 of paintings in the interior of the church.
And why is the church so big, much bigger than the local parish needed? The money to build the church was raised in a public collection. Initially, there was concern about whether enough money could be raised, because at the same time people were also contributing to the building of the National Theater and St. Vitus’ Cathedral. However in the end much more was raised than originally planned…
Unfortunately, the church gradually has fallen into disrepair over the last decades. Paradoxically, he was greatly helped by what has been associated with this location since ancient times – a flood. The one that Prague experienced in 2002 paralyzed the center of the city to a large extent. Water also flooded the subway, parts of some routes were not fully operational until the spring of the following year.
The water did not avoid Karlín either, where rescuers rode around the streets in boats and took people out of flooded houses.
(Photos: Jan Rosenauer)
The water in the Karlin church reached a height of 1.5 meters. When the water receded, the church was badly damaged and it was clear that its repair could not be postponed any longer. The current appearance shows that its repair was indeed a success. (Photos)
And that in this case perhaps the Czech proverb really applies: “Every cloud has a silver lining.”
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