Visit St Giles' Church, Prague

Where the church is

The Church of St Giles, kostel sv. Jiljí, is at Husova 8 in Staré Město, Prague's Old Town. The Dominican monastery beside it fills the block between Husova, Jalovcová and Jilská streets, and the church is its public face. Husova 8 is the address to give a map or a taxi driver, and the monastery's own site writes it as Husova 234/8, with the old house number first. The church is a tall Gothic hall with a Baroque interior, and from the street its shape is what you notice first: a plain, high building with a tower and tall windows, standing among Old Town houses and palaces.

Husova street

Husova is about 300 metres long. It links the junction of Na Perštýně, Skořepka and Betlémské náměstí with Mariánské náměstí, and it is named after Jan Hus, a name in use from 1870. Before that it carried older names: U svatého Jiljí, after this church, between the 1300s and the 1600s, and Dominikánská, after the monastery, until 1870. It is one of the oldest routes in the Old Town, and in the Middle Ages it formed part of the road from Prague Castle to Vyšehrad. The Bethlehem Chapel, where Hus preached, is at Husova 3.

Finding the door

Guests have been confused at this point. One concert guest followed the waiting point on the map, found a side door and saw no one, then went to the main door, where the ticket was scanned and they were let in. They added that an earlier arrival would have given a better seat. The lesson is practical: read the meeting details in your confirmation, and if the map points you to a side entrance, walk round to the main door and show your ticket there. Do not wait outside for a guide, since this is a concert admission and not a tour. A concert starts on time, so a few spare minutes beat a late scramble through a crowded church.

Before the music starts

Your ticket is scanned at the door and your printed programme tells you what is played. The seating is wooden benches. Reviewers praise the sound and the setting, and several say the benches are hard and ask for cushions. Arrive with time in hand, partly for a better seat and partly because the interior repays a slow look before the lights and the music take over. Silence your phone at the door, and keep bags small in a historic room. A concert admission means you sit in the nave and listen; there is no tour to join and no guide to follow.

Read next: St Giles Church concert, Prague

The outside of the church

The church was consecrated on 4 May 1371 and is one of the main Gothic buildings of the Old Town. It was built on the foundations of a Romanesque church, with rebuilding that Czech Wikipedia dates from 1339. The tall pointed windows you see from the street light a nave that the Baroque remodel filled with stucco, altars and paint. A lightning fire on 28 June 1432 destroyed the roof and melted the bells, and three bells were recast in 1437. Little of this is obvious from outside, which is why the interior surprises first-time visitors.

Inside: what to look at

Look up first. Václav Vavřinec Reiner painted the vault frescoes in 1734 and 1735, showing the glory of the Dominican order, scenes from the lives of St Dominic and St Thomas Aquinas, and St Giles, the church's patron. The architect František Maxmilián Kaňka vaulted the nave with Bohemian groin vaults resting on four pillars, and Bernardo Spinetti made the stucco. Then look at the altars: the high altar and the side altars are gilded and crowded with carved figures. The organ case carries angel figures and vases that František I. Weiss added in 1736, with statues of Mary and the Archangel Gabriel. Reiner was buried in 1743 in front of the altar of St Vincent.

A working church

St Giles' is a Roman Catholic parish church and the convent church of the Dominicans. A Polish Roman Catholic parish is also based here, and the city's tourism page lists Masses in Czech, French and Polish. Masses are held at set times, and when no concert is on, the church stays open until the evening Mass. A concert is a guest in a place of worship, so keep your voice low in the nave, do not walk about during the music, and put the phone away. The Dominican community has served the church since the 1620s, and the monastery beside it still offers accommodation.

Access and who it suits

The concert ticket is marked not suitable for wheelchair users, and the booking page gives no further detail on steps. If step-free access matters to you, ask GetYourGuide before booking, and do not rely on a guess. The format suits adults and anyone who can sit still for about an hour on a bench. It is a chamber concert with strings, a soprano and an organ, so people who like a quiet room and acoustic sound will be happiest. Anyone who needs padded seating should bring a cushion or choose a hall.

Reading your programme

The printed programme comes with the ticket and is the complete list for your evening. Composers' names appear in their original spelling, so look for Dvořák, Smetana, Albinoni, Vivaldi and Mozart. The Four Seasons is billed for some dates, which the calendar entry for a date makes clear, and a date that names it gives you Vivaldi's four violin concertos, or part of them, with the sonnets that came with the music. Other evenings mix composers, so a programme can run from Baroque to Romantic. The Vivaldi guide explains what to listen for.

Read next: Vivaldi's Four Seasons in Prague

An Old Town evening around it

An hour of music leaves the rest of the evening free. Husova street holds the Bethlehem Chapel, founded in 1391, where Jan Hus became rector and preacher in 1402, and several palaces. Old Town Square, with the Týn Church, lies in the same district. The Old Town belongs to the Historic Centre of Prague, which UNESCO inscribed in 1992. Plan dinner before or after the music rather than during it, and leave a margin so the concert does not start without you. The Old Town evening guide suggests an order for the night.

Read next: An Old Town evening by St Giles'

Who this isn't for

Wheelchair users cannot use this ticket. Travellers who want to tour the building, with a guide, should look at the visiting hours of the church and the Dominican community instead, since a concert admission is for sitting and listening. Anyone who dislikes hard seating or cold stone should weigh that before booking. People who want a long evening, a bar or a late finish will find an hour in a church too restrained. The concert is for those who want the room as much as the music, and who are content with a small, quiet evening of about an hour.