overview about the place The Church of St Havel, established by Wenceslas I in 1232, was one of only four main churches in Prague at the time. Its current Baroque façade was built between 1723 and 1738. The church is home to very valuable and nearly complete Baroque furnishings and many significant works of art, including the famous “Calvary” by Ferdinand Brokoff. Among the notables interred at the church is the important Bohemian Early Baroque painter Karel Škréta. more about the place Source: www.tyn.cz Regular roman catholic masses Su: 8:30 Mo—Fr 12:15 (except July, August) Tours and masses by appointment: e-mail: dkc@cmail.cz, tel. 602 457 200 concerts history Havel (Gall) Quarter was an important part of Prague’s Old Town. The Parish Church of St Gall, founded by King Wenceslaus I of Bohemia in 1232, was one of Prague’s four main churches. Charles IV donated a valuable relic to the church – the head of St Gall, which he had obtained at the Abbey of Saint Gall in Switzerland. At that time, around the mid-14th century, the church was reconstructed into High Gothic style as a three-aisle basilica which is still visible despite later Baroque remodelling. The well-known preacher Konrad Waldhauser, who came to Prague in 1358 and later became the pastor of Týn Church, served at St Gall. The pastor at St Gall from 1380—1390 was Jan of Nepomuk, who was later declared a saint. Like most churches in Prague, this church as well was originally surrounded by a cemetery. In 1627, Emperor Ferdinand II gave the church to the Carmelites who built a monastery by the church. The monastery was closed down by Emperor Joseph II in 1786 and the church again became a parish church. A 14th century cross vault and a number of art pieces have been preserved in the Baroque remodelled interior, including Ferdinand Maxmilian Brokoff’s famed Calvary from 1719—1720 — a monumental sculpture carved from linden wood and coated with a polychrome finish. Karel Škréta, a noted Bohemian painter of the Early Baroque period, was interred at the end of the right aisle on August 1, 1674. The church belongs to the Roman Catholic Church. Bells On 5 March 2017, a new bell was ceremoniously installed in the southern tower of the church, the patron of which is St Wenceslas, yet the bell is also dedicated to Václav Havel. The church did originally contain a bell of the same name, but that was requisitioned during the First World War, as was another bell during the Second World War. The bell, weighing 810 kilogrammes, was designed by the Olgoj Chorcho studio in cooperation with graphic designer Aleš Najbrt and artist Jana Bačová Kroftová. The bell is decorated with a relief of St Wenceslas and another of the Přemyslid eagle. One side is inscribed with the quote ” Pravda a láska zvítězí nad lží a nenávistí” (“Truth and love must prevail over lies and hatred”), with Václav Havel’s signature and his characteristic heart. The other side is adorned with the presidential standard of the Czech and Slovak Federative Republic from 1990 to 1992, which was used only by Václav Havel. The Václav bell was cast in the Grassmayr bell workshop in Innsbruck and hangs in the church together with the oldest bell in Prague, the Mary bell, dating from 1455, and the Havel bell from 1506. The same bellmaker cast two more bells were for this Old Town church in 2020: the Ludmila bell, weighing 45 kilogrammes and 38 centimetres in diameter, is tuned to C♯3 and replaces the temporary steel bell installed in 1925. The Jan Nepomuk bell is tuned to A2, weighs 80 kilogrammes and has a diameter of 50 centimetres.