VIRTUAL Barcelona

Abstract

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The church of St Francis of Assisi in Prague lies on the city’s ‘Royal Route.’ The current structure was begun in 1679 to designs of Jean Baptiste Mathey, replacing an earlier structure founded by St. Agnes of Bohemia in the 13th century, as part of the complex of the Knights of the Red Cross. Mathey’s church is dominated by a large dome, over 40 meters in height, and the interior has an unusual oval plan, likely dictated by the compressed space in which the church stands. J B Mathey was born in Dijon around 1630 and studied architecture in Rome with Carlo Rainaldi (as did Carlo Fontana), who was responsible for the twin churches in Piazza del Popolo, around the same time as Mathey’s edifice. In both cases, the large domes are evident, but the Roman churches have extended porticoes, whereas the Prague church compresses these into pilasters, and features a higher frontage with statuary topped by a broken pediment. Rainaldi’s original designs incorporated recessed columns also (Wittkower, 1937), suggesting a strong link between the two designs. Mathey worked in Prague from 1675 until the end of his life, receiving commissions from the Archbishop of Prague for the Chateau Troja, as well as Duchhov Castle north west of the city. These designs, as well as others, clearly show the influence of the Italian Baroque, particularly from Roman sources, and highlight the extraordinary journey of these influences, religious and architectural, as transmitted by a French born architect into central Europe