Church of Our Lady before Týn
— twin black spires that pin the Old Town to the sky.
Not only on a wall.
“The Gothic twin-towered church that has anchored Prague's Old Town Square since the fourteenth century. The 80-metre spires are visible from anywhere in the medieval centre; the façade itself is half-hidden behind the older Týn School, so the church is glimpsed through an arcade before it is seen whole. Inside, beneath a side aisle, lies the tomb of Tycho Brahe, the astronomer whose observations let Kepler describe the orbits of the planets.
Church of Our Lady before Týn, on ceramic.
Each tile is finished by hand in our Knoxville studio. Artwork is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, and rests beneath a thin glossy finish. The colour lives in the surface, not on top of it.
Pick any four 4-inch tiles — National Parks you've been to, a Smokies set, the four seasons of one place. $ for a set of , cork-backed, ready to live on the table.
The place, in three passes.
The Church of Our Lady before Týn, Týnský chrám in Czech, stands on the east side of Prague's Old Town Square in the historic centre of Bohemia's capital. Construction of the present Gothic building began in 1380 on the site of an earlier Romanesque church, and the twin spires reached their current height of about 80 metres in 1511. The church served as the principal Hussite church of Prague during the fifteenth century. The Old Town centre was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1992.
The two spires that define the Prague skyline rise to roughly 80 metres above the square and are framed by eight smaller turrets, four to each tower. The main entrance is reached only through an arcade beneath the older Týn School, which was built up against the façade in the thirteenth century. Inside, the high altar of 1649 was painted by Karel Škréta, and a north-aisle tomb holds Tycho Brahe, who died in Prague in 1601 and served as court astronomer to Emperor Rudolf II.
The church is open to visitors outside of mass times, generally late morning through early afternoon, Tuesday through Sunday. A small voluntary donation is requested at the entrance under the Týn School arcade. The square itself is reached on foot from any of the medieval gates of the Old Town; the nearest metro station is Staroměstská on Line A, about five minutes' walk through the Jewish Quarter. The astronomical clock on the Old Town Hall is across the square.