I am composing this while sitting in a Krakow Laundromat. It took two people to help me figure out how it works….
On Thursday August 27th we were driven to the beautiful city of Prague. Our group was met at our hotel, Hotel de Paris, by a local guide, who gave us a tour from the Prague castle, walking back down hill through the town square to the hotel, a distance of probably about two miles. We returned for this same walk on Saturday, when we had time to enter more sites along the way. The pictures in this post are from both of those walks.
The Prague Castle complex dates dates from the 9th century and is the official residence of the President of the Czech Republic. The castle was a seat of power for Kings of Bohemia, Holy Roman Emperors, and Presidents of Czechoslovakia. The Bohemian Crown Jewels are kept in a hidden room inside. The Prague Castle is the largest ancient castle in the world. It occupies an area of almost 70,000 m2, at about 570 meters in length and an average of about 130 meters wide.
The first set of pictures are from the St. Vitus Cathedral, which is located in the castle complex. This cathedral is an excellent example of Gothic architecture and is the biggest and most important church in the country. Located within the Prague Castle it contains the tombs of many Bohemian Kings and Holy Roman Emperors. Cathedral dimensions are 407 feet by 197 feet, the main tower is 317 fee high. The exterior of the building has great gargoyles, such as shown in the third picture. One of the exterior doors had this interesting detail of a person sticking out their tongue. From the interior you can see the incredible stain glass, including the sixth photo showing a window by Alphonse Mucha (more about him in a subsequent blog.
We saw treasury of St. Vitus, which was filled with gold plated art. Most were reliquary, in which body parts of a famous person is saved. About a third of them seemed to also have a splinter from THE cross. The third photo is the reliquary of the arm of St. George.
Vladislav Hall, first photo below, is a large room within the Prague Castle complex, used for large public events of the Bohemian monarchy and the modern Czech state. Built between 1493–1502 during the reign of Vladslav II, the hall was the largest secular space (62m x 16m x 13m) in medieval Prague and belongs to the most complex structural and architectural spaces of the late Middle Ages. In particular, the construction of the complex stone vaulting system, spanning 16m, was a refined engineering feat. The third and highest floor of the palace, the hall replaced a group of rooms dating from the 14th century. Immediately underneath, the second floor is a gothic addition built during the reign of Charles IV in the 14th century, while the lowest, first floor is a Romanesque palace. The hall was used for banquets, receptions, coronations, and other events of the Bohemian court. It was even large enough accommodate tournaments between knights; the "Knight's Stairway" was built wide enough to accommodate horses to facilitate such activities.
The second photo is Nancy taking a Picture of Franz Kafka’s house, which is now a book store. It is part of the golden lane filled with shops. The second floor was part of the castle defenses, with slots for archers to fire on anyone attacking the Castle. It now houses an extensive collection of armor.
The following are a few of the photos we took of Prague from the Castle.
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