Jon Hus chappel

In this square you see a very old chapel. It was here that the famous Jan Hus, the world’s first Protestant, once gave his lectures. He was a lecturer at Charles University and also a preacher. People gathered at his lectures, over time there were more and more listeners. Because his words seemed very correct and fair to people.

It just so happened that the ruler of Bohemia at that time was an alcoholic. It was the son of Charles IV, whose name was Wenceslas IV. His best drinking pal was the Archbishop of Prague. Together they visited pubs. And if the archbishop himself drank, it means that the monks and bishops could too. For this they needed money. They even took payment from the regular people for come to the temple! And every ceremony starts to cost money: funerals, baptismal weddings.

They also learned to sell indulgences. This is the remission of sin before it is completed. For example, someone’s mother-in-law lived so long, the man could buy this permit, come home and kill the mother-in-law. And this was not considered a crime.

Jon Hus was opposed this! He wanted to introduce asceticism to catholic faith, reduse all spiritual profession and cancel payment the taxes to the churches. He also proposed introducing preaching in Czech language, because all people were uneducated, they did not know Latin and didn’t understand preachers at the worships.

But, as we know - the Pope burn him on the stake like a heretic. It happened in day 6 of July, year 1415. This date you can see nearby steps on the facade. They’re leading to the top, like to the sky. In each of them there is some letter. Together they make sentence "for the true". Every year on the day of his death, if the sun is shining in the sky, then the shadow of these letters falls on the wall of the temple. And everyone can read this sentence here.

Photo: Alesia - guide in Prague