Church of St. Peter Na Poříčí

Here is that Church in Florenc. ;-) I happened upon this really cool small Gothic Cathedral one day as I was walking from Florenc to the Ministry of Transportation via some back streets. I never knew this cathedral was there, hidden away on a small street which is not much traveled.

A small roman basilica, apparently existed in this location around 1178, and was gradually replaced by this church during the 14th and 15th centuries. The church was renovated in a Baroque style then in Gothic style.

The church of St. Peter at Na Poříčí has four steeples. The two large ones were constructed in a Romanesque style and refurbished in a Gothic style during 1483-1497. Unfortunately none of the steeples have their bells today. But...

There is a detached belfry, 39.5m high, which was built from sandstone blocks in the late 1500's. The ground floor has a walk trough passage from the street into the church courtyard, which is interesting. On the outside facia of the belfry there is an embedded stone with Latin lettering proclaiming: “The Commoners of St. Peter’s Church at Poříčí built this tower at their own expense and for their grateful descendants in 1598“.

The top of this belfry is covered with a bulbous bronze dome with clocks on each of it's four faces. Today the belfry has 3 bells. The largest, called Peter,(not sure why it has a name?) was cast in 1691 and re-cast in 1701. The second bell, called Pavel, (aka Paul) was created in 1724 and the last bell is called a passing bell, which I don't have a clue about. This belfry is accessible through a small door on the south side of the tower.