After lunch there was no waiting line to get into St. Vitus Cathedral. The sun was streaming through the windows making for a jaw-dropping, spectacular day to visit.  Next few photos looking the length of the nave and aisles. Various altars to all kinds of people and things run the entire length of the aisles so everyone sort of circles-around after standing awestruck in the middle for awhile.

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One of many stained glass windows

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Wood Carving of Crucifixion

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Stained Glass Window

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The interior just ‘glowed’ with light.

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I wish I could capture both the brightness of the sunlight streaming through the side windows and the colors of the stained glass rose window. This is a compromise. Maybe someday the camera will get closer to the dynamic range of sight/perception God has given us.

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Stained Glass

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Angel and Satan

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Old (1630)bas-relief Wood Carving of Prague. Illustrates “the Flight of Fredrick of Palatine”

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The tomb of St. Vitus is here, just behind the altar.

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More Stained Glass

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Funerary monument of St. John Nepomucene (wrought silver, created 1737). An impressive, and huge, sculpture. It is SO big that it caused a big log-jam as everyone is forced into single file to get past it. It’s irreverent but from this angle, it reminds me of a rock star playing guitar…

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Another awesome wood door and hinges

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Highly decorated Pulpit. Not sure if this is ever used anymore but I would have a hard time paying attention to the preacher watching and wondering when one of those cute cupids on top was going to start climbing the little ladder…

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St. Vitus “Altar”. Like a small cathedral inside the big cathedral.

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Gargoyle: from French meaning “throat”‘ or “gullet” (think “gargle”). There was a Gargoyle exhibition in the palace that helped me understand why gargoyles are so interesting. Seems that throughout Europe the most skilled stone craftsmen were rewarded by being allowed nearly unlimited freedom to ‘get creative’ with the gargoyles. They had to be functional, moving rainwater away from the stone walls, but beyond that the artists clearly competed with one another to imagine and create the most beautiful, bizzare, or sometimes hideous rain gutters. It adds an interesting extra layer of detail to the already amazing level of stone detail in the cathedral.

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A “drooling” winged catlike thing…

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Back Outside for one last shot of the front as we were leaving the castle

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We left the Castle Complex by the “Giants Gate” which is the main ceremonial entry. This entry is on the side of the Castle overlooking the “little quarter” on this side of the river and “old town” on the opposite side. There is a square, imaginatively called “Castle Square” in front of the entry.

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Monument to the Black Plague

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Schwarzenberg Palace (1563), one of the first palaces to be built near the political center of power (Prague Castle). it’s directly across from the “Giants Gate” on Castle Square and has a distinctive diamond pattern.

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Becky and Dee walking on the steep roadway down from the Castle through the “little quarter” on our way to …

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This Awesome Church

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Monument in the square in front of the church

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Little Quarter street scene at dusk

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Rooftops in view looking back toward Little Quarter from Charles Bridge

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Dusk from Charles Bridge, again looking back toward Little Quarter

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Padlocks on Charles Bridge. We saw this in several places in our travels. Apparently a popular phenomenon in Europe and Asia where couples declare their “locked in love” committment by scribing initials on the padlock then locking it onto a significant public sculpture.

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King and Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV looking impressive. It’s his bridge… he laid the foundation stone on July 9, 1357 at 5:31 am, an auspicious/superstitious moment that was supposed to help ensure the new bridge wouldn’t suffer the fate of the last bridge and be swept away by flooding. Written in Year/Day/Month/Time it is “1-3-5-7-9-7-5-3-1” It sort of worked, the bridge has suffered some partial removal by flood but it’s generally managed to survive since 1357.

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Glass work in store windows as we walked back to our hotels, fairly exhausted but very satisfied with our day of tourism

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