St Vitus Cathedral is the metropolitan church of the archbishopric of Prague.
It occupies the site of a rotunda which Duke Wenceslas dedicated to St Vitus in 925.135 years later Duke Spytihněv II donated a Romanesque basilica with double chancel. Charles IV began building the Gothic cathedral in 1344. The east end was designed by French master builder Matthias of Arras, influenced by the older Gothic style of southern France (cathedrals of Narbonne and Toulouse). He was responsible for the chancel, 47m/154ft long and 39m/128ft high, of which only the lower parts were completed at the time of his death (1352). Peter Parler succeeded Matthias of Arras and enriched the cathedral with the upward-soaring forms of German Gothic. Thereafter Parler’s sons Wenzel and Johann took over (1399–1420); the entire chancel with ambulatory chapels and the foundations of the main tower are of this period. After the Hussite Wars Bonifaz Wohlmut and Hans of Tyrol gave this 99m/325ft tower a Renaissance cupola with a parapet; in 1770 it was given its Baroque bulbiform roof (design by Nikolaus Pacassi).It was not until the early 20th century that St Vitus Cathedral was finally completed. From 1872 on, Josef Mockeroversaw work on the cathedral; drawing on Peter Parler’s plans he began with the neo-Gothic west part of the main portal, which was completed under Kamil Hilbert in 1929.
Saint Vitus' Cathedral photos
