One of the most iconic churches in Prague is undoubtedly the Church of Our Lady Before Tyn, as its familiar 80 meter-tall black spires tower over the Old Town Square in the heart of Prague. Allegedly considered the most important church east of the Vltava River, the Church of Our Lady Before Tyn claims a thousand year history, starting life first as a medieval Romanesque, then Gothic church, before being constructed in its present late-Gothic style in the mid-1300 to 1400s. For two centuries it was a Hussite church, not a Roman Catholic one, but in 1620 with the advent of “recatholicization” it was forcibly converted back to a Roman Catholic Church. The Church of Our Lady Before Tyn was struck by lightning multiple times, once in 1679 which ruined the Gothic ceiling, another in 1819 which melted the North Tower bell dating to the 1500s. In the late 19th century, its interior was renovated in the ornate Baroque style but its exterior remained untouched, explaining the curious dissonance in architectural styling between its extravagant exterior and austere Gothic exterior. The interior is itself an interesting blend, as its vault and basic structure is Gothic, but its central alter and décor is Baroque, lending the Church of Our Lady Before Tyn the grandest elements of both styles.