Panna Maria Sněžná
Czechia
Stand on Jungmannovo náměstí, a step from Wenceslas Square, and look up: the church in front of you is only a fragment. What survives as Panna Maria Sněžná, Our Lady of the Snows, is essentially the presbytery and cloister of a far larger plan. Charles IV founded it in 1347, and contemporary records give the date as 3 September, one day after his coronation alongside Blanche of Valois. It was meant to be a three-aisled basilica and a future coronation church, served by Carmelite friars. The design was for a two-towered building 100 metres long, with a central nave reaching 40 metres, intended to rival St Vitus Cathedral and the Cistercian abbey church at Zbraslav. Charles even donated the timber from the hall built for his coronation feast.
- Written with AI from the Wikipedia article Kostel Panny Marie Sněžné (Praha) (cs.wikipedia.org); facts only from there
- Show on OpenStreetMap
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