Church of St. James

The Basilica of St. James the Greater is the most beautiful Baroque church in Prague and the longest after St. Vitus Cathedral, founded by Franciscan monks in the 13th century and rebuilt in its current form after a fire in 1689. The interior features 21 altars, ceiling frescoes, and exceptional Baroque decoration. The church contains the elaborate tomb of Count Vratislav of Mitrovice, Bohemian Chancellor, designed by Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach and completed in 1714 — one of the finest Baroque funerary monuments in Central Europe. Legend holds that when the tomb was later opened, the count's body was found outside the coffin, suggesting he had been buried alive. The organ, dating from 1705, is the largest in Prague and used regularly for services and concerts. The church's most unsettling feature: just inside the entrance on the right, suspended from a meat hook, hangs a mummified human forearm — over 400 years old. According to legend, a thief tried to steal jewels from the statue of the Virgin Mary on the high altar; the statue grabbed his arm and held him until the Prague Butchers' Guild, which worshipped here, amputated it. Most visitors walk past it without noticing.