St. Vitus Cathedral

This is an impressive gothic cathedral. I quote from Wikipedia since retyping all the Czech is beyond me at the moment:

The Metropolitan Cathedral of Saints Vitus, Wenceslaus and Adalbert (Czech: metropolitní katedrála svatého Víta, Václava a Vojtěcha) is a Roman Catholic metropolitan cathedral in Prague, the seat of the Archbishop of Prague. Until 1997, the cathedral was dedicated only to Saint Vitus, and is still commonly named only as St. Vitus Cathedral.

It is located on the grounds of the Prague castle and is largely surrounded by the castles and its associated buildings. Thus, my photos from the outside are taken from fairly close and don't give a full reflection of the size. This is the third church on this site. Construction began on 21 November 1344 when Prague was elevated to the seat of an archbishopric.



Inside, however, you get a sense of the size of this place.

And, unlike the other churches we've visited in Prague, this one has a collection of stained glass windows that really add to the color of the space. These chapels have a much warmer feeling that the usual plain-glass alcove.

The roseate at the rear of the nave does have some color in it but only a modest amount so I thought this image would work well in monochrome. It accentuates the textures in the surfaces and gives a better sense of the detailed stone work.

Speaking of details, this little fellow is located on the stonework surrounding a set of spiral stairs that lead to the balcony on one side of the nave.

In addition to stained glass, some of the chapels also have ornate altars. This one contains the reliquary for St. Sigismund.

The pulpit is an impressive affair.

You will notice that all the images are from not in the center of the church. This is because visitor access is limited to the back entry area (the lobby, as it were) and aisles on either side or the nave that lead to the ambulatory around behind the main altar area. Thus, I can see a side view of the nave as below, but not from the center of the floor.

While this prevents me from taking images from some of my 'classic' perspectives, it does not limit the amazing places we could see. St. Anne's chapel is quite beautiful.

From the back of the altar, looking toward the back of the church, the vaulted ceiling is seen to present a symmetric design in the ceiling. A better view of the status at the bottom of the image follows.

Just behind the altar is the catafalque for St. Vitus sitting atop his grave.

As you start around the corner and head back toward the rear of the church, you encounter this huge silver creation. From the Creative Adventurer we learn that this

 most impressive tombs is the baroque, silver encased resting place of St. John of Nepomuk which stands across from the Gothic Chapels. The tomb is draped in a deep red canopy held up by a squadron of divine angels. Two tonnes of silver was used to create this work of art.

This tomb was commissioned by Empress Maria Theresa.

The Wenceslas Chapel is really an enclosed room dedicated to the Duke of Bohemia (serving from 921 until his assassination in 935). We weren't allowed inside but we could peer over the ropes and watch fresh flowers being set out.

Finally, back outside, We could see this huges building from the apse-end and clearly see from here the flying buttresses and some of the many chapel domes.