Page 106 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Prague

104  PR A GUE AREA B Y AREA

A Guided Tour of St Vitus’s Cathedral

A walk around St Vitus’s takes you back 2 Chancel
through a thousand years of history. Go The chancel was
in through the west portal to see some built by Peter
Parler from 1372.
of the best elements of the modern, It is remarkable
Neo-Gothic style and continue past for the soaring
a succession of side chapels to catch height of its vault,
glimpses of religious artifacts, saintly counter-pointed
by the intricacy
relics and works of art from Renaissance of the webbed
paintings to modern statuary. Allow plenty Gothic tracery.
of time to visit the richly decorated,
jewel-encrusted St Wenceslas Chapel
before you leave.
Cathedral organ
(1757)
New
sacristy
1 Alfons Mucha Window
The cathedral contains many
superb examples of 20th-
century Czech stained glass,
notably St Cyril and St Methodius.

Main entrance
(West Portal)
The Four Eras of St Vitus’s
Excavations have revealed sections of the northern Thun
apse of St Wenceslas’s original rotunda, and archi- Chapel
tectural and sculptural remains of Chapel of
the later basilica, beneath the St Ludmilla
existing cathedral. The western,
Neo-Gothic end is a faithful
completion of the 14th-
century plan. Leopold II
is shown in a
contemporary
Key engraving being
crowned King
Rotunda, 10th century
of Bohemia at
Basilica, 11th century the cathedral in
Gothic cathedral, September 1791.
14th century Mozart composed
19th- and 20th-century an opera, La
additions to cathedral Clemenza di Tito,
in honour of
the occasion.

104-105_EW_Prague.indd 104 20/03/17 11:28 am
Eyewitness Travel LAYERS PRINTED:
Starsight template “UK” LAYER
(Source v1.9)
Date 28th August 2012
Size 125mm x 217mm