Sts Cyril and Methodius Church
This Baroque church was first consecrated to St Charles Borromeus. It was built together with a house for emeritus priests in 1730-1739. The church and the house were abolished in 1783 and used for several purposes. It took about 150 years (1934-35) before the church was given to the Orthodox Church and consecrated to Sts Cyril and Methodius.
The church is situated on a raised terrace after the ground shaping of the neighbourhood. Baroque frescoes inside the church are edged with stuccoes. The garden in front of the church is framed with a Baroque fence decorated with statues of angels.
Sts Cyril and Methodius Church in Prague became very well-known after the WWII when it became the hiding place for seven Czech parachutists after the assassination of the Reich governor of Bohemia and Moravia Reinhard Heydrich.
They were sent from England to fulfill several tasks. Two of them Jan Kubis and Josef Gabcik attacked Heydrich in Prague-Liben on 27th May 1942. He died several days later of blood poisoning from his injuries. Just few hours before the parachutists were supposed to change their hiding place, on 18th June 1942, they were betrayed and attacked in the church by the Gestapo and SS. After three hours of fighting the parachutists used their last bullets and committed a suicide in order not to be captured.
On the wall of the crypt near a window, where you can still see the holes from the bullets, is the memorial plaque with the names and portraits of the heroes. The crypt serves now as the National Memorial Of The Heroes of the Heydrich Terror.
Address:
Resslova street, Prague 2
How to get there:
Sts Cyril and Methodius Church is situated in Resslova street between Charles square and Jiraskuv Bridge. You can get there either by tram no. 17 or 21 (stop Jiraskovo namesti) or by metro (yellow line B, station Karlovo namesti).