SS. Cyril and Methodius Cathedral

The Cathedral of SS. Cyril and Methodius (Katedrální chrám sv. Cyrila a Metoděje) is a Baroque church in Prague's New Town, built in 1736 by Kilián Ignác Dientzenhofer, originally Catholic, transferred to the Czechoslovak Orthodox Church in 1921 and today serving as its principal cathedral. It is best known as the site of the final act of Operation Anthropoid — the only successful government-sponsored assassination of a senior Nazi official during World War II. On 27 May 1942, Czechoslovak paratroopers trained in Britain fatally wounded Reinhard Heydrich, the Deputy Reich Protector and one of the architects of the Holocaust. Seven paratroopers then took refuge in the cathedral's crypt, sheltered by Bishop Gorazd, until betrayed three weeks later. On 18 June 1942, SS and Gestapo forces besieged the church; the paratroopers fought until their last bullets, using them on themselves to avoid capture. The bishop and church leadership were executed. The crypt today houses the National Memorial to the Heroes of the Heydrich Terror, with a permanent exhibition (Czech/English), original artifacts, and seven bronze busts of the paratroopers. Bullet holes and shrapnel scars remain visible on the crypt walls. The exterior window on Resslova — through which the Germans fired and forced in fire hoses — is still riddled with bullet marks and serves as an informal street memorial, accessible at any hour.