St Ursula (sv Vorsila), Narodni, Nove Mesto, Prague

Close by this church in the street "Narodni" the 1989 Velvet Revolution began where crowds of students marched from the river towards Wenceslas Square to find their way blocked by Communist riot police. The students sat down and some handed out flowers to the police. Without warning the police attacked and beat the students although thankfully no-one died. Within days the number of protestors gathering swelled to half a million and to other cities. Within two weeks the communist government had resigned. Today it is again a busy main street with trams. The church dates from 1699-1704 and is remarkable for the surviving original statues adorning the exterior. The single naved interior is richly decorated and as I arrived a service led by a trio of elderly nuns was finishing. The church was well lit but within five minutes the lights were all extinguished and all plunged into a comparative gloom.