Výzdoba a původní funkce sakristie kostela sv. Kateřiny ve Velvarech

In the 1990s, wall paintings dating from the mid-15th century were uncovered in the space below the tower of the church of St. Catherine in Velvary. A damaged scene of the Crucifixion, a series depicting the apostles, and plant motifs decorating the vault were painted by a Prague painter in the retrospective style that dominated Bohemian art after the Hussite wars. In spite of his deliberate attempt to continue in the "international style" of the preceding era, it is possible to detect certain indications which to a greater or lesser degree reveal the true period at which they were painted. The only specific person whom we might be tempted to connect with this decoration is Jan Velvar, a prominent diplomat of the Hussite revolution and a close friend of Jan Rokycana. His connections with his native town can be shown to have continued in the 1430s, but unfortunately we have no records of his having renewed them after he returned to Prague from exile in the late 1440s. However, the unfavourable economic situation of church institutions after the Hussite wars and the increasing prestige of the burghers, together with the existence of two recesses which probably served to house tabernacles, fairly convincingly show that this space did actually serve as a private chapel of one of the wealthy burghers.