Vivaldi Four Seasons Concert at St. Salvator Church Clementinum

St. Salvator Church

St. Salvator Church was the main church of the Jesuits in Bohemia, begun in 1578 and enriched over the following century with a grand baroque portico crowned by statues of saints that faces Křižovnické Square. Inside, a richly decorated nave with stucco, ceiling frescoes, side altars and a gilded high altar creates a warm, resonant space that suits string music perfectly.

For a Prague church concert, the setting is part of the pleasure: the music fills the vaults while the candles and gold of the altar glow in front of you. Category A seats in the front rows bring you closest to the musicians and the altar, so you can watch every bow stroke. Arrive early to admire the interior before the concert begins.

The Clementinum complex

The church forms the eastern front of the Clementinum, the vast former Jesuit college founded in 1556 and, after Prague Castle, the largest historic building complex in the city. After the Jesuits left in the 18th century it became part of the university and today houses the National Library. Its courtyards, chapels and halls stretch over an entire block of the Old Town.

The complex is also famous for its Baroque Library Hall, with painted ceilings and antique globes, and the Astronomical Tower, where weather records have been kept without a break since 1775. A guided tour of the Clementinum is not part of this ticket, but it makes a perfect daytime visit if you want to see more of the building that hosts your evening concert.

The Four Seasons and the concert programme

Published in 1725, the Four Seasons is a set of four violin concertos, each paired with a short poem describing the season: birdsong and spring breezes, a summer storm, the autumn harvest and hunt, and the icy chill of winter. It remains one of the most performed pieces of baroque music and is easy to enjoy even if you rarely attend classical concerts.

In St. Salvator Church the Four Seasons forms the heart of a one-hour programme that also includes popular works by other baroque and classical masters. The printed programme you receive at the door lists the pieces of the evening. Concerts usually start at 19:30, leaving plenty of time for dinner in the Old Town afterwards.

Charles Bridge and Křižovnické Square

The church stands on Křižovnické Square, one of the most photographed corners of Prague, where the Old Town Bridge Tower guards the entrance to Charles Bridge. Across the small square rises the domed Church of St Francis of Assisi, and from the riverbank beside it you have a classic view of the bridge and Prague Castle across the Vltava.

How to get to the Clementinum: take tram 2, 17 or 18 to Karlovy lázně or the metro to Staroměstská, both a few minutes' walk away. Combine the concert with an evening walk across Charles Bridge, when the floodlit statues and the castle above the river look their best and the daytime crowds have thinned.