The lost rotunda of St Wenceslas
Rotundas used to be common in Central Europe. Prague was no exception and it is a shame so many have disappeared. This article explains how archaeologists re-discovered St Wenceslas’ rotunda which stood in the Lesser Town Square (Malostranské náměstí).
What is a rotunda?
The definition of a rotunda is a building which has a circular ground plan. I used to think this term was unique to old churches but this is not the case. In early medieval times they built many churches like this.
It’s likely this was because of the lack of appropriate building materials. Unless you have a quarry close by and tools to cut stones into large bricks you can’t make corners. If you use flint, on the other hand, you can build a strong cylindrical-shaped building1.
I had heard a story about churches and the superstition that a devil could hide in corners. From my research it seems this only applies to the Old Round Church in Richmond, Vermont2.
Discovery
In December 2003, Prague discovered the remains of a rotunda underneath the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics3. They wanted to build a new study for staff and started to remove backfill from a walled-up space underground4. They noticed masonry blocks which conservationists classified as the walls from a Baroque cellar4.
A well-preserved rotunda in Prague is St Martin’s rotunda in the Vyšehrad castle complex.
When they couldn’t find any entrances they began to suspect this was a crypt, not a cellar4. On 04 February 2004, circular masonry became evident4 5. Historians knew St Wenceslas’ rotunda was somewhere in the area but a 17th century engraving misled everyone as it suggests the rotunda is further west than it actually is6 .
On 17 March 2004, they found 74 Romanesque tiles featuring embossed lions or gryphons7. Many tiles still sport fingerprints of whoever made them 900 years ago5 7. This discovery is unique as nothing like it exists anywhere in Europe8. It is an amazing, almost miraculous, coincidence that the 17 March is the day the Orthodox Church celebrates the feast of St Wenceslas according to the Julian calendar7.
Within a month archaeologists found Romanesque tiles4. All constructions stopped pending further research4. It took Prague a further 10 months of research before they could decide what to do4.
The key problem was financial.
The country applied for a grant from the European Economic Area3. The EEA received 209 project proposals and only 26 were successful. Prague was one of the winners3 of CZK 8 000 000 (EUR 313 000 in today’s money). The University had to fork out a further CZK 2 000 000. Donors contributed to this because the faculty alone couldn’t afford it.
Restoration
On 01 January 2015 the restoration project started3 9. Restorers spent 6 000 man hours over an 18-month period to complete the project3. They analysed mortar and masonry, ran geochemical analysis of the terrain, carbon dated artefacts and constructed or restored whatever they could4.
In total archaeologists documented:
- 14 000 fragments of pottery
- 18 000 pieces of animal bones
- A 9th century jewellery collection4 10
- Six skeletons from a Knight’s family4 10
- 210 artefacts made from animal bones3.
Since the floor area is small, it is surprising to see how much was recovered from this place. Historians now categorise this place as one of Prague’s most significant archaeological sites.
The faculty held a competition for designs of the floor of the restored rotunda7. They wanted to reconstruct the floor and knew what tiles to use, but did not know what pattern to use. Given they only had 4.74% of the original tiled area5 7, people had some freedom in proposing a solution. They used the winning design by Dr. Oldřich Semerák and the restored floor has his pattern7.
Between June 2015 and September 2015 the faculty worked on interactive presentations, holographic projections and an online virtual 3D tour3 10.
On 28 September 2016, the rotunda was re-opened after 400 years.
What we learnt
The research suggests an 8th century house was the first building on the site4. Around the year 900 the house was burnt down in an attack4.
They built this rotunda in the last quarter of the 11th century4. The tiling suggests it was not built to be a burial place but the remains of 6 people were here nevertheless4. It’s likely the skeletons all belong to the same family, and that the family belonged to the King’s entourage4.
Mapping this to the legend
Prince Wenceslas (immortalised as Good King Wenceslas in Christmas carols) died around 935 in Bohemia4. He wasn’t a saint yet and the Church needed evidence of two miracles before canonising him.
Legend has it that prisoners’ shackles fell off when mourners transported his body past the prison on its way to Prague castle4 11. To commemorate this, they built a church in honour of Wenceslas4. This written legend is the first written evidence of the rotunda, even if the rotunda was only built 150 years after Wenceslas died4.
It is likely this was a parish church until they built the nearby church of St Nicholas in 12574.
Throughout history people weren’t as interested in preserving the past the way we are today. This means that any remains or finds are much more valuable to us as they let us fill the gaps in our knowledge.
References
- Why do some English churches have round towers?; History House; (Retrieved 2019-11-13) [↩]
- Old round church; Atlas Obscura; (Retrieved 2019-11-13) [↩]
- Discovery of the rotunda; Nase Rotunda; (Retrieved 2019-11-13) [↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩]
- Rotunda; Nase Rotunda; (Retrieved 2019-11-13) [↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩]
- St Wenceslas rotunda received bronze from the European public; Charles University; 2018-06-25[↩][↩][↩]
- A unique discovery; Preservation project of St Wenceeslas rotunda; (Retrieved 2019-11-13) [↩]
- Tiling; Nase Rotunda; (Retrieved 2019-11-13) [↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩]
- St Wenceslas rotunda; European heritage awards; 2018-05-14[↩]
- The Rotunda attracted thousands of visitors to the museum night; Charles University; 2017-06-16[↩]
- Building approved; Preservation project of the St Wenceslas Rotunda; (Retrieved 2019-11-13) [↩][↩][↩]
- Saving the St Wenceslas rotunda; EEA grants; 2015-08-26[↩]