Where the Body of Saint Ludmila Rested

The church of Saint Matthew stood on what is now Loreta Square, between the Černín Palace and the riding school, and is said to have been founded by Spytihněv I. The body of Saint Ludmila rested there overnight as it was being carried from Tetín to Saint George's. The little church probably perished in the Hussite wars, and later two small houses stood in front of the Černín Palace, one of which, At the Golden Ball, was a low tavern. In 1702 Count Heřman Černín petitioned for those houses so that he might pull them down and build the church anew — arguing that they disfigured the square, that the tavern gave scandal to pilgrims going to Loreta, that a church had once stood here, and that bones from old tombs were being found in the cellars. A new little church of Saint Matthew was indeed built here in 1737 by František Josef Černín and adorned with paintings by Václav Reiner; but it was abolished as early as 1784, and seven years later sold for two hundred and sixty-four guilders and demolished.