420 years ago, Kilián Ignác Dientzenhofer was born

Benedictine Chapel Hvězda in the Broumov Walls

Prague - The significant Baroque architect and builder Kilián Ignác Dientzenhofer, a leading member of a builder dynasty that significantly influenced the history of architecture in Central Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries, was born on September 1, 1689.
    He was the fifth son of builder Kryštof Dientzenhofer, attended the Jesuit gymnasium in Malá Strana, and after completing it, studied philosophy and mathematics at Charles University in Prague. He then worked for his father and adopted and developed his main principles – constructive rationalism and vertical layering of single-storey buildings. From his travels abroad, he brought back greater ornamentation and refinement of detail. Kilián Ignác was not only an architect-designer but also a builder and technical talent. He worked for the nobility and the church in Prague (Villa Amerika, Portheimka, Invalidovna, completion of Loreta, St. Nicholas churches in the Old Town and Malá Strana) as well as in other cities (Kutná Hora, Broumov).
    Dientzenhofer was married twice and according to some sources had as many as 13 children. He died at the age of sixty-two and was buried in the Church of St. Mary Magdalene, from where his remains, like those of his father, were transferred and laid to rest in a mass grave at the Malostranský Cemetery after the church was deconsecrated.