St. Cyril and Methodius Cathedral

This church stands out on the list for having some interesting contemporary history, despite its old origins. Completed in 1736 as the principle church of the Czech Orthodox Church, the Czech branch of the East Orthodox Church, famously served as a hideout in World War II. In 1942, Czech patriots managed to assassinate Reinhard Heydrich, a high ranking Nazi official regarded as one of the originators of the Holocaust and responsible for some of the cruelest wartime atrocities inflicted upon the then-Czechoslovakia. In this operation, code-named Operation Anthropoid, the Czech assassins managed to locate Heydrich’s open-air car and toss grenades at Heydrich, killing him. The assassins successfully fled and hid from the Nazi authorities for a while at St. Cyril and Methodius Cathedral, but were eventually betrayed. 750 SS soldiers stormed the cathedral, killing two of the assassins in the prayer loft and causing four more to commit suicide. The bishop of St. Cyril and Methodius took blame for the incident to protect his congregation from harm by the Nazi authorities; a little over a week later, he and his senior priests were arrested, tortured, and executed by firing squad, and later honored as a martyr by the Orthodox Church. Today, visitors can see bullet holes where the Czech nationalists were cornered by SS troops, and on the ground floor underneath the cathedral is a crypt dedicated to their memory and bravery.