St. Vitus Cathedral

INFORMATION & DETAILS

The cathedral was build as a result of the promotion of Prague from a bishopric to an archbishopric by pope Clement VI in 1344. It stands on the place of two older churches and is devoted to three saints: St Vitus (Vít), St Wenceslas (Václav) and St Adalbert (Vojtěch). Prince Charles, who was to become the famous king and emperor Charles IV in 1344, laid down the first stone of the cathedral. The French architect Mathias of Arras became its first builder, however, after Peter Parler replaced his death in 1352. Although Parler was very young when he started the project, he was very experienced, coming from one of the most famous German builder family. Parler continued on the work on the cathedral in his own way, therefore the cathedral changed its look from the original plans made by the Frenchman, however, he was so successful in what he did that the king commissioned him to do also other projects. Approximately the half of the cathedral was finished when Peter died in 1399, his sons continued with the project until 1419 when religious wars broke out in the country and the work on the cathedral stopped for many centuries to come. It was not until 1859 when the Association for the Completion of the St Vitus Cathedral came into being that idea of finally finishing the cathedral stated to take shape. In 1861 the work started under the leadership of the architects Josef Kranner and Josef Mocker. After Mocker’s death, it was Kamil Hilbert who finished the cathedral in 1929. Apart from its spiritual function, the cathedral contains many artworks from the best artists of their time. The members of the Czech royal families are buried in the Cathedral crypts together with the remains of Prague’s bishops and archbishops. The most significant place in the cathedral is the chapel devoted to St Wenceslas, the holy patron saint of the Czech nation. Above his chapel is the Crown chamber, where the Czech coronation jewels are hidden for safekeeping.

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