The first written mention comes from 1365, when the rotunda was a
parish church, but the building is much older. It was built on an important trade route that led from
Vyšehrad to the
Vltava River crossings. It is possible that it originally belonged to one of the old town mansions as a private sanctuary. There was a
presbytery nearby, which had disappeared during the
Hussite wars, and a cemetery was around the church building. In 1625, the rotunda was given to the
Dominicans of the Old Town Monastery by the Church of
St. Giles. In 1784, under the reign of
Joseph II the sanctuary was shut down as part of ecclesial reforms, and the chapel became a warehouse. In 1860 there were plans to tear down the church due to construction of a new house. By the initiative of Ferdinand Bretislav Mikovec and
Josef Mánes, the
Umělecká beseda organisation intervened to save the building, and they succeeded. Town council bought the rotunda from a private owner, and architect
Vojtěch Ignác Ullmann committed to restore the exterior for no reward. Ullmann also designed an altar, decorated by the painter Jan Popelík. Josef Mánes designed the grills around the rotunda. At present, the rotunda is in use by the
Old Catholic Church in Czech Republic and it is administered by Prague
Old Catholic parish. Regular worship services are held here. == References ==