The Church of Our Lady Before Tyn

The Church of Our Lady Before Tyn dominates one side of the Old Town Square in Prague. This powerful looking, Gothic church with a baroque interior can be seen from all over Prague.
The church was founded in 1385 during the tumultuous period when the ‘heretic’ Hussites were slaughtered by the ruling Roman Catholics. The Catholic Jesuits then made the church their own by recasting the bell and replacing the Hussites symbolic chalice with a ten-foot figure of Mary nailed between the towers.

Impressive during the day, and striking at night lit up against the dark night sky, take a close look at the two spires. They are not symmetrical. This is characteristic of the gothic architecture of the time, which tried to represent both masculine and feminine sides of the world.