Bethlehem Chapel

From Prague-wiki

The Bethlehem Chapel (Betlémská kaple in Czech) is a medieval religious building on Bethlehem Square in the Old Town. It is notable for its connection with the Czech reformer Jan Hus. The building was originally not indtended for serving the Holy Mass, but only for sermon in Czech vernacular, so it was never officially called as a church, only a chapel. It is also apparent architecturally as there is no chancel.

The construction of the chapel was started in 1391 and it was opened for sermons in 1394. Jan Hus preached there in 1402-1413. Later it served as a normal parchial church where many important Prague citizens were buried. in 1609 it was taken over by the Unity of Brethren, but in 1622 it was acquired by the Society of Jesus. Since 1638 it served as a University chapel, but in 1661 Jesuits bought it once more, together with nearby Nazareth and Louda Colleges, to form an ambitious project of St Wenceslas Seminary. However in 1773 the Society of Jesus was suppressed and the building began to decay. Several years it served as a filial church under nearby Church of Saint Gilles, but in 1786, during reign of the Emperor Joseph II, it was converted into a warehouse. Later, in 1836–1837 an apartment building was built on the site.

In 1919 a scientific exploration revealed, that most of the chapel's exterior walls and a small portion of the pulpit date back to the medieval chapel. Therefore the building was restored by the communist government to its state at the time of Hus. It was quite unusual in the communist regime that a church building was restored, but the reason was that the communists interpreted Czech Hussites not as religious, but as social movement. In 1987 it was taken over by Czech Technical University and after a restoration in was newly opened for public in 1992. It is now used for official ceremonies of the university.