Karlinské náměstí

The Church of Saint Cyril and Saint Method in Karlín district at Karlinské náměstí, which is located just off Sokolovská ulice(street), one tram stop from Metro Florenc. This cathedral is quite large. Behind it sits Vitkov(Vitkov Hill).

First built by the famous Baroque architect Killian Dietzenhofer, it was a place where old priests spent their retirement years. In 1783, it was closed just like many other churches during the reign of Joseph II, who tried to erase political power of the Catholic church. It was reopened in the 1930s and dedicated to the two most important religious figures after Jan Hus; Saints Cyril and Method.

It was also the last hiding place for two Czech troopers, who were from a small village called Lidice, who assassinated Reinhart Heydrich, the Nazi governor of Bohemia and Moravia during the Second World War.

That assassination lead to Nazi retaliation and the murder of every man over 16 in the town of Lidice, north of Prague. The woman and children were sent to Concentration camps, where most were eventually killed, then the Nazis bull dozed, flattened the Town and erased it from the map. There were 82 children who were murdered. A memorial stands in Lidice honoring their deaths(Below). The place were the town stood is a memorial today.