The Church of St.Roch, St.Sebastian and St.Rosalie with a plague cemetery

I took a little trip yesterday, Saturday. Just for about three hours. I visited a place I know and don't know.

I worked for seven years about 300 meters from this place. I can't count how many times I've driven by here. But I never took the time to stop and really walk around. Until yesterday. It's a special place. The plague cemetery. Actually, it's a former plague cemetery.

We are in Prague, in the Czech Republic, in Central Europe. In December 1679, the first plague infections appear here. (At that time there is still a kingdom here.) The town hall buys this land for a new cemetery on January 15, 1680. After a fortnight, the first dead are buried here.

In September 1680, the construction of a cemetery chapel dedicated to St. Roch, St. Rosalie and St. Sebastian was started here. These are the saints who helped against the plague. The chapel was completed in two years.

The chapel was gradually modified and repaired. But no more really big epidemics came. The aforementioned saints obviously provided Prague with good protection.

Just for the record. I'm still taking advantage of the fact that it's winter and there are no leaves on the trees. At any other time of the year I would be photographing nature and not architecture.

I'm going around the church. And I read the information on the information boards. This place would look very mysterious at night. Maybe I'll come back here again.

The year 1839 was an important year for this place. The existing local parish church was in such a poor technical condition that it was decided to consecrate it and close it down. This parish chapel was upgraded to a church. At the same time, many older altars, paintings and baptismal fonts were moved here. A parish cemetery was built around the church.

In the twentieth century, tram lines ran past the church. The cemetery lost its outer walls and became smaller. The old rectory was also demolished. Today there is a park around the cemetery.

The old tombstones were placed in or near the cemetery wall. Ironically, they are now placed in the park, in front of the cemetery.

Some tombstones have been damaged by time, others by vandals. The first photo shows a strange bell tower. The church lost its bells during the First and Second World Wars due to war production. The current bells in the bell tower date from 1952. The bell tower is made of reinforced concrete.

Not only stonemasons but also some of the leading sculptors of the time participated in the individual tombstones. It's not hard to find out who is buried where. There are also some well-known and famous personalities of the time. But their names would only be known to us natives.

For me, the saddest graves are always the children's graves. There's always a lot of them in old cemeteries. So to end on an optimistic note. We live in good times. Of course, it could always be better.