Matěj Rejsek

Matěj Rejsek or Matyáš Rejsek (; – 1 July 1506) was a Czech stonemason, sculptor, builder and architect of the late Gothic style.

Life

Matěj Rejsek was born probably in 1445 in Prostějov, Moravia. He was educated at the Augustinian monastery's school in Prostějov. As a young man he came to Prague to study at the Faculty of Arts at the Charles University in Prague. He finished his studies in 1469 as a bachelor and became the rector and teacher at the parish school of the Church of Our Lady before Týn in the Old Town of Prague.

He built some houses in Prague. One of his most famous works is the Powder Tower which was built as a representative gate of the Old Town of Prague after 1475. Matěj Rejsek became the main builder of the tower in 1478.

He died on 1 July 1506 in Kutná Hora Powder Gate in Prague, statues and decoration cut in sandstone (1478–1483) Upper part of triforium and vault of choir of St. Barbara's Church, Kutná Hora (1489–1506) Pulpit with statues of four signs of evangelists, in the St. Batholomew Church in Rakovník in Central Bohemia

Probably created by Matěj Rejsek: Statue of a mythic knight Bruncvík with a lion (Roland statue) at the Charles Bridge in the Lesser Town of Prague, damaged in 1648, since 1875 placed in the Lapidarium of the National Museum in Prague Stone fountain in Kutná Hora (1495)

Honours A relief of Matěj Rejsek, created in 1949, is located on the Prostějov's city hall.