St.Peter's Tower and St.Peter's Church

I continue my walks in my hometown in winter. We are in Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic, in Central Europe.

Sometime in the early 12th century a settlement was established here. After 1150 a parish was established here, centred around a Romanesque basilica with a cemetery.

The church then went through a complex construction development. It was destroyed, built, rebuilt. The Romanesque style was replaced by the Gothic style, which was then supplemented by the Renaissance and Baroque styles.

The façade of the church with two towers has been preserved in its original Romanesque form.

The church was badly damaged during the religious wars in the 15th century. Those who repaired the church were afraid to put the bells, which had been there before, into the towers for structural reasons. Therefore, they built a new bell tower.

The new bell tower stood on the site of the old gate to the cemetery and its function also replaced this gate.

The cemetery was closed at the end of the 18th century. The bell tower-gate was lucky that it stood in a quiet place and did not interfere with traffic. That is why it still stands as a gateway to the small park.

The church and the tower received the greatest modifications at the end of the 19th century, when they were re-gothicised in accordance with contemporary taste. In particular, some Renaissance and Baroque elements, including the plasterwork, were removed.

Last picture. Pigeons. Were there that many in the 12th century? Definitely not. There probably weren't any. Prague had less than 15,000 inhabitants then. Today it has 1,500,000 permanent residents. It's estimated that there are about 100,000 pigeons in Prague today, damaging monuments and buildings everywhere.

The official name of the pigeon is Rock Pigeon. He lived in the rocks, not in the cities. It moved to the cities to find food. In the 12th century, famines were common. But today, garbage cans and trash cans overflow with discarded food. The pigeons live here with us, along with the rats.

If we cut back a bit and stopped wasting, even cities would be nicer. Not to mention the other benefits to the planet.

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