Týn Church in Prague

There was an old Romanesque church as early as in the 11th century. It was an infirmary church for foreign merchants coming to Ungelt. In the middle of the 14th century the current Gothic church was founded there and was given a function of the main Old Town church and parish church. The towers are 80 metres tall. The northern one is called Eva, the southern one (which is approximately 1 metre taller) is called Adam. The local organ is the oldest one in Prague. Týn Church can boast of a big number of preserved headstones. There are about 60 known of them, some of them are unknown, others were removed when making a new floor. Among the most famous ones is the headstone of Tycho de Brahe, a Danish astronomer in the imperial court of Rudolph II. There is a legend about a small bell in the church belfry. It is intended to remind us of a maid who was strangled by her lady because she had kneeled down and started to pray instead of helping her get dressed when the Týn Church bell had started to ring. The judge acquitted the woman due to her social position but every ringing of the bell resonated with her conscience so much that she had a small bell cast for the Týn Church to remind of the poor maid. Then she gave away all her property and joined a convent.