Pod farou was built in 1941.
In 1724, Václav Neumann of Puchholtz, a law professor, commissioned a chapel in honour of the Virgin Mary and the Fourteen Holy Helpers, a group of saints venerated by Catholics because they are believed to be able to intercede in the case of disease and other matters.
We don’t know when the church – the Church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary / Kostel Narození Panny Marie – was actually built, but it must have been there by 1728, when two side altars were consecrated.
Anyway, the church is still around. It’s not actually in this street (it is in tomorrow’s), but its presbytery – or its rectory, or its ‘fara’ – is, and so the street is ‘under’ said building.
We need to pop back to the church, though, as there doesn’t appear to be a street named after it, and it has a (replica of a) statuette of interest – the ‘Madonna of Michle’, or ‘Michelská madona’, has been venerated there since at least 1856.
It was apparently donated by František Halla, a stove-maker and parishioner, and dates from between 1320 and 1360, being one of the most important examples of Bohemian High Gothic sculpture.
It’s 120 cm tall, and depicts the Virgin Mary as Queen, holding the baby Jesus in her right arm; you can see the remains of a royal crown on her head: https://www.michlehabrovka.cz/o-farnosti/michelska-madona/ is the source of the photo below.
There is a copy on the right-hand side of the altar, and another at the aforementioned ‘fara’. To see the original, you’ll have to go to the permanent exhibition at the Convent of St. Agnes (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/11/05/prague-1-day-243-anezska/).
Another ten or so woodcarvings survive from the same workshop that the Michle Madonna comes from – including five or six other Madonnas, and two of Christ on the cross – but it’s not known where the workshop was located. Prague, Brno and Olomouc have all been suggested.
The church now forms a parish with the Church of Saint Francis of Assisi in Krč: https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2026/05/19/prague-4-day-384-u-habrovky/. It needed reconstruction in 2000, due to traffic on the nearby road causing damage to its walls.
Hilariously, the first thing YouTube suggests for me to add to this post is the video to ‘Like a Prayer’.
Leave a Reply