Church of the Dormition

The Church of the Dormition of the Mother of God is an Orthodox parish and cemetery church standing within Prague's Olšany Cemetery, part of the Prague deanery of the Orthodox Church of the Czech Lands and Slovakia's Prague eparchy.

Why is there an Orthodox church inside a Czech cemetery?

The story begins in 1905, when Father Nikolai Ryzhkov, priest of Prague's Orthodox parish, obtained a dedicated burial plot for Orthodox believers at Olšany Cemetery from the city council. Two years later came the first proposal to build a cemetery chapel there, but the plan stalled for over a decade. It resurfaced after 1921, when a large wave of Russian émigrés fleeing the civil war and the Bolshevik takeover settled in Prague. Organized as the Brotherhood of the Dormition of the Mother of God, the émigrés found a powerful ally in Karel Kramář, the first prime minister of Czechoslovakia, who backed the construction of the new church.

When and how was the church built?

Foundation work began in August 1924, and the cornerstone was laid that September. Severe frost halted construction for half a year, but by the following autumn the church stood complete. The design came from Professor Vladimir Brandt, working with architecture students Nikolai Pashkovsky and Sergei Klodt, who drew on Old Russian ecclesiastical architecture from Novgorod and Pskov. The church was consecrated on 22 November 1925 by Metropolitan Evlogy Georgievsky, head of the Russian Orthodox parishes in Western Europe, who traveled from Paris for the ceremony.

What does the building look like inside and out?

The church stands on a square plan measuring 8.2 metres per side, extended by an apse, and rises 22 metres in total. Its whitewashed walls carry only two mosaics — one of the Archangel Michael, the other of the Theotokos Orans — while a single onion dome topped with a cross crowns the structure, a hallmark of Russian church architecture. Inside, the iconostasis holds 64 painted images of saints. Beneath the church lies a crypt, the Chapel of St. Sophia, where the church's founders are buried. Between 1973 and 1974 the building underwent a thorough renovation initiated by Metropolitan Dorotej.

Who is buried in the crypt?

Among those interred beneath the church is Karel Kramář, Czechoslovakia's first prime minister and one of the project's principal backers — an unexpected link between Czech political history and the fate of the Russian emigration in Prague.

How to get there and what else to see nearby?

The church stands within Olšany Cemetery, Prague's largest and oldest still-active burial ground, easily reached by metro (Želivského station) or tram. A visit pairs naturally with a walk through the cemetery's avenues, which hold the graves of many notable Prague families as well as a separate Orthodox cemetery section. The church remains an active place of worship, so it's worth checking service times in advance if seeing the interior is the goal.

Frequently asked questions

Which church does it belong to? The Prague eparchy of the Orthodox Church of the Czech Lands and Slovakia, within the Prague deanery.

When was the church built, and who designed it? It was built in 1924–1925 to a design by Professor Vladimir Brandt, assisted by architecture students Pashkovsky and Klodt, modeled on Old Russian church architecture from Novgorod and Pskov.

Why was it built specifically at Olšany Cemetery? Because a burial plot for Orthodox believers had already been set aside there in 1905, and the wave of Russian political émigrés arriving after 1921 created demand for a dedicated cemetery church.

Who is buried in the crypt beneath the church? The church's founders, along with Karel Kramář, Czechoslovakia's first prime minister and one of the driving forces behind its construction.