St. Vitus Cathedral, façade detail
Construction began in 1344. The first master builder was a Frenchman Matthias of Arras, summoned from the Papal Palace in Avignon. Matthias designed the overall layout of the building as, basically, an import of French Gothic. However, he lived to build only the easternmost parts of the choir: the arcades and the ambulatory. By 1397, when the second architect Peter Parler died, only the choir and parts of the transept were finished. Through most of the following centuries, not much was added, and the cathedral stood only half-finished. In 1870 workers finally laid the foundations of the new nave. Everything between the western door and the crossing was built during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The west façade was designed in a typical classic Gothic manner with two towers.
In the 1920s the sculptor Vojtěch Sucharda worked on the façade. By the time of St. Wenceslas jubilee in 1929, the St. Vitus cathedral was finally finished, nearly 600 years after it was begun. Despite the fact that entire western half of Cathedral is a Neo-Gothic addition, much of the design and elements developed by Peter Parler were used in the restoration, giving the Cathedral as a whole a harmonious, unified look.
Prague, 2017
St. Vitus Cathedral, façade detail
Construction began in 1344. The first master builder was a Frenchman Matthias of Arras, summoned from the Papal Palace in Avignon. Matthias designed the overall layout of the building as, basically, an import of French Gothic. However, he lived to build only the easternmost parts of the choir: the arcades and the ambulatory. By 1397, when the second architect Peter Parler died, only the choir and parts of the transept were finished. Through most of the following centuries, not much was added, and the cathedral stood only half-finished. In 1870 workers finally laid the foundations of the new nave. Everything between the western door and the crossing was built during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The west façade was designed in a typical classic Gothic manner with two towers.
In the 1920s the sculptor Vojtěch Sucharda worked on the façade. By the time of St. Wenceslas jubilee in 1929, the St. Vitus cathedral was finally finished, nearly 600 years after it was begun. Despite the fact that entire western half of Cathedral is a Neo-Gothic addition, much of the design and elements developed by Peter Parler were used in the restoration, giving the Cathedral as a whole a harmonious, unified look.
Prague, 2017