You can see it’s boned spires from all over the city; St. Vitus is Prague’s most imposing and important church, site of the coronation of numerous monarchs and the internment of Czech royalty, nobles and church leaders. It is located inside the Prague Castle complex and houses the Bohemian crown jewels. St. Vitus is also the Czech Republic’s largest Roman Catholic Cathedral and seat of the Archbishop of Prague.

The St. Vitus nave is long, tall and narrow with side aisles leading off to multiple chapels built at different times during the churches constructions, but housing some exquisitely detailed stained glass windows. One of the churches main points of interest is the highly decorative, magnificent St. Wenceslas Chapel which has walls encrusted with precious stones and paintings chronicling St. Wenceslas’s life and the story of the Passion.

As the church in the Czech Republic has grown in wealth and importance so has St. Vitus. The first place of worship on this site was completed in 925, then it was renovated once again before it’s final gothic reincarnation began in 1344, but failed to be completed until the second half of the 19th Century and was finally consecrated in 1929.

Written by  Kynan Wieltz.

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Painstakingly intricate

Painstakingly intricate Gothic stonework covers the exterior of the St. Vitus, St. Wenceslas and St. Adalbert Cathedral, which towers over the surrounding buildings like a forest of dark spires. It is the largest and most important church in the Czech Republic and houses the underground tombs of many Bohemian kings, dating back to the 14th Century. The chapel guards the Czech crown jewels and was designed by the second architect to work on the building. There were three in all, and completion was not achieved until the 19th Century. The interior is equally rich in decorative detail, with painted walls studded with precious stones and stained glass windows in the many chapels which line the nave.

 

Review posted 10th September 2007 by James Dunford Wood.

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