Catholic Academic Church of. St.Salvator: "As the time passed by"
/Martin Staněk/
11th century – The construction of the ancient church of st. Clement by the Bridge
1232 – The arrival of the Dominican monks to the Church of St.Clement and the construction of the monastery.
1420 – The monastery and the church burnt down by the Hussites during a religious civil war.
1460 - The return of the Domincan monks to the ruins of the monastery. Only a partial renewal of its life.
1556 – Jesuit father Peter Canisius, called by the Emperor, came with first 12 Jesuits; the beginning of the main construction of the Jesuit college Klementinum.
1557 – The opening of a Gymnasium (High school) and a prestigious Academy of philosophy and theology.
1578 – The construction of a new church – named Sanctissimus Salvator (The Holiest Saviour) on the grounds of the destroyed church of St.Clement.
1601 – The consecrating of the finished church of St.Salvator
1649 – The polygonal dome is constructed, 1653 – Portico is added to a facade (Carlo Lurago), 1655 – 1660 - The portico and tympanon are decorated with statues by famous sculptor J.J. Bendl.
1653 – the Jesuit college Klementinum governs the Charles University
1710 - 1730 The final completion of Klementinum college (second largest complex of historical buildings after Prague Castle) with 4 churches: St.Salvator (1601), St.Clement (1715), the Italian chapel (1600) and the Chapel of Mirrors (1726), with an astronomical tower, a mathematical tower, a weather station, a huge baroque library etc.
1556 – 1773 Jesuit missionaries and preachers from Klementinum operate all over the world - they travel to South America and to Philippines as plant scientists, operate at the Chinese Emperor´s court as cartographers, musicians, mathematicians and painters, they´ve found missions in India, travelled to Japan, Singapore……
1773 – Supression of the Jesuit Order, Jesuits are leaving teacher positions in the College.
1777 – The seminary for clergy education established, and also Academy of Fine Arts, German University….
1805 - 1819 Bernard Bolzano - a mathematician, a priest and a representative of the Enlightenment is established as a preacher in the church of St.Salvator.
1925 - Klementinum (with the exception of the churches) is sold to the Czechoslovak republic, the National library (based in the Jesuit library) is founded.
1925 - 1945 Various parishes established in the church – church for cadets (students of a military high school), German parish… etc.
1945 - 1948 – St. Salvator is a student church again; after the communist coup d'état in 1948 student priests are persecuted, imprisoned or forced to leave to exile.
1971 - 1987 The reconstruction of the church.
1990 After „the Velvet revolution“ and the end of comunist regime, a student pastoration (by prof. Msgr. Tomáš Halík) is restored.
2004 The Academic Parish of Prague is established for students and professors under the leadership of Prof. Msgr.Tomáš Halík. Prof. Tomáš Halík, Templeton prize laureate, became a a famous international writer of spiritual literature.
Church of st.Salvator (The Roman- Catholic Academic Parish of Prague)
Architecture and decoration
The history of the church is closely associated with the arrival of Jesuits to Prague and the construction of the Klementinum complex. The construction of st.Salvator church in the renaissance style was started in 1578 by Marco Fontana di Brusata. The church was renovated in the 17th century in the baroque style by the architect Carlo Lurago.
Statues on its front and portico, designed by Jan Jiří Bendl, represent the Saviour Christ flanked by the four evangelists. The niche in the gable holds a statue of The Immaculate. At the opposite ends of the facade there are statues of St.Ignace of Loyola, the founder of Jesuit order and St,Francis Xaverius, the missionary in Asia. Statues of the Church Fathers are placed on the balustrade.
The interior is rich with stucco decoration from around 1640.
The main altarpiece was painted by Jiri Häring in 1632 after “Transfiguration of Christ” by Raffael, kept in the Vatican.
The ceiling fresco symbolizes the four continents known at the time.
There are white statues of St.Wenceslas (Czech main patron saint) and St.Adalbert (the first Czech bishop) in the aisles. In the middle of the left aisle is a rococo altarpiece of St.Aloysius, with a St.Ignace altarpiece at the end (dated 1603), the latter flanked by statues pf St.Paul and St.Peter.
In the middle of the right aisle is a rococo altarpiece of St.Stanislaus Kostka, and a baroque altarpiece of St.Franciscus Xaverius, flanked by statues representing India and Asia, at the end.
Large paintings of St.Ignace (left) and St.Francis Xaverius (right) by J. J. Heinsch form the beginning of 18 th century you can also find next to the main grille.
An altar with an iron-and-glass artwork designed by Karel Stádník in 1986 in the chancel represents the Universe. The raised platform covers a large crypt with remains of Jesuits.
An 18th –century rococo pulpit is adorned with a statue of Moses at the summit and statues of Church Masters below, and with statues of four of the apostles at the top of the canopy.
The twelve confessionals, carved between 1660 and 1670 by Jan Jiří Bendl and bearing statues of 12 apostles, rank among the best examples of early baroque sculpture in Bohemia.
A beautiful 17th-century grille separates the nave from the antechamber, where you can notice two marble fonts dating back to 1600´s.