Church of Our Lady Victorious (Infant Jesus of Prague)

the church was built in 1611 - 12 by german lutherans, and it was dedicated to the holy trinity. we do not know the name of the architect of this first baroque building in prague. however, the building is a close resemblance of a church in neubirg at the danube by rudolf's royal artist josef heintz. it is likely that his concept was completed by an imperial architect giovanni maria filippi. after the victory of the counter-reformation, ferdinand ii donated the church in 1624 to the order of discalced carmelites, who had merit in the victory of the imperial army at the battle of bílá hora. this order dedicated the church to virgin mary of victory, re-built it and built a monastery nearby. the existing front was built in 1636 - 1644 at the expense of general baltasar de marradas. originally, when the lutheran protestants dwelled here, the entrance to the church was on the side towards pet?ín, and the altar headed east, customarily. to distinguish the catholic style from the original protestants, the entrance to the church was later built on the opposite side, i.e. from today's karmelitská street. however, the baroque style gradually placed more emphasis on the building as such than on the church's traditional orientation. the carmelites built an organ-loft in the originally simple single-aisle church, as well as a deep chancel, and they added a tower. by the monastery, they established a seminar garden, where they kept frogs and fish in artificial ponds as food for the fasting periods. the carmelite monastery was abolished in 1784 during the reign of joseph ii, and the church fell into the administration of the maltese knights. at present, it is again administered by the carmelites.