Nov 27 2011
St. Augustine
Statue of St. Augustine
In 1708 Statue of St. Augustine was designed by Jan Bedřich Kohl and sponsored for by the Augustinian convent of St. Thomas in Prague. The statue depicts the philosopher St. Augustine holding a book and a burning heart and walking on “heretical” books followed by an angel attempting to pour the sea out of a sea-shell. On the pedestal of the statue you can see the emblem of the Augustinians. This statue of St. Augustine is not original; this copy was made in 1974. St. Augustine lived in 4-5 century and considered as one of the most important figures in the development of Western Christianity, who framed the concepts of original sin and just war. Augustine developed the concept of the Church as a spiritual City of God, distinct from the material City of Man when the Roman Empire in the West was starting to disintegrate. His concepts and ideas influenced the medieval worldview.