ST VITUS CATHEDRAL
PRAGUE, CZECHIA CATHOLIC
PAUL SCOTT
TA Anuradha
The city of Prague in Czechia is a very popular tourist destination, and perhaps the main attraction in Prague is the Prague Castle, including St Vitus Cathedral. Of course there is no real substitute for actually visiting a cathedral, but in the case of St Vitus, at least we shall miss the queues and the crowds of tourists!
Regarding the name, there are the options of St Vitus, St Vitus’, or St Vitus’s. The first, simple option is the one in general use.
I have never been to Prague, so none of the photographs on this site are mine. Most have been taken from the ‘public’ sites of Tourist Advisor [TA] and Google Street View [GSV]. In these cases I have listed the source and added the name of the photographer. Other photographs are acknowledged with a direct link. Photographs labelled [LK] are by Larry Koester. More details can be found in the Conclusion. I am extremely grateful to all those whose photographs have made this site possible, and allowed viewers to visit the Cathedral online.
A satellite view, plan, and brief history of the Cathedral are given below, before we begin our photographic tour.
To help with access to different locations in the Cathedral, we give the following list of links. You can access these intermediate points in the tour by a tap / click on the relevant link:
INTERIOR
SATELLITE VIEW
As is our custom, on this site we use liturgical directions, using East (with a capital E) for the orientation of the sanctuary, and other directions accordingly. This causes no problems here: a 10° turn from the geographical directions.
The easiest way to visit the Cathedral from the city is to catch a number 22 tram. Alighting at the Pražský hrad tram stop, we reach the 2nd Courtyard entrance of the Castle after a short 5 minute walk. On the adjacent view, this is at bottom left.
The Cathedral is cruciform in shape, and surrounded by chapels, except on the West façade. There are two towers with spires at the West end, and a Great South Tower by the Southern transept. Just East of this is a curious covered bridge connecting the chancel of the Cathedral to the buildings just to the South. We shall discover that this was a Royal Passageway!
After entering the Second Castle Courtyard on our tour, we shall walk through a passageway to the North, and across a smart pedestrian bridge. This takes us across a gully, with a name which delightfully translates to ‘Cranberry’! At the northern end of the bridge, we turn right along a little track, and from here we get several good views of the North side of the Cathedral. We then return to the Second Courtyard. The reason for this diversion will shortly become clear.
Another passageway leads us through to the West end of the Cathedral. We now walk right around the outside in a clockwise direction. We find that the path on the North side of the Cathedral is very narrow, hemmed in to the North by castle buildings, making it hard to gain any impression of the Cathedral. At the East end there is an extensive plaza, and we can appreciate the many apse chapels from here. Continuing to the South side, we come to another extensive plaza with an obelisk and a statue, and a little house which is the Deanery. We next return to admire the West face before entering the Cathedral.
Shown here is a wonderful plan of St Vitus Cathedral, with a labelling of all the chapels, and some other features. In our exploration we shall enter by the West door, spending a little time looking at the nave and the inside West wall and window. We then follow around the numbers from #1 right around to #31.
Unfortunately, there is no public access to the centre of the nave, the choir, or the High Altar area. This is particularly unfortunate because it concentrates the many visitors to the aisles and ambulatory around the edge.
The page numbering for the Interior is difficult. I have tried to follow the numbering on the plan, using an initial letter C (for Chapel, as most of the numbers are for chapels. However, there are still various unnumbered features, so there are entries at the beginning at end with initial letter X (for Extra).
In our exploration, we shall enter by the West door, check out the nave and West wall, and then walk clockwise around the outer aisles and ambulatory, returning to the West wall. We then make our way back to the sanctuary in the East, looking at various other aspects of the Cathedral.
We shall also look at climbing the South Tower, and exploring the crypt.
There is much to see here!
HISTORY
Years Built: 1344 – 1929
Address: III. nádvoří 48/2, 119 01 Praha 1-Hradčany, Czechia
St. Vitus Cathedral is a Gothic masterpiece located in Prague, Czechia.
Its construction began in 1344 under the patronage of Charles IV, the Holy Roman Emperor and King of Bohemia. Matthias of Arras designed it, and later Peter Parler, who also designed the Charles Bridge and other notable buildings in Prague. The Cathedral is named after Saint Vitus, a Christian martyr from the 4th century. During the Hussite Wars in the 15th century, the Cathedral was damaged and remained unfinished for centuries. It was in the 19th century that the Cathedral was finally completed. St. Vitus Cathedral symbolized Czech national pride and was the site of many important events in Czech history, including the coronations of Czech kings and queens.
The Cathedral is the burial place of several patron saints and Czech kings, including Saint Wenceslas, the Duke of Bohemia, and Charles IV.
Today, St. Vitus Cathedral remains a vital part of the religious and cultural life of the Czech state. Its architecture and rich history make it a popular tourist destination and an important symbol of Czech identity.
Much more detail can be found at
https://storyofprague.cz/blog/st-vitus-cathedral/
