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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Our last full day in Prague began a bit wet and overcast.

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Also rather gloomy, we often walked past this bit of bronze art near our hotel. It sits adjacent to the historic Stavovske Divadlo (Estates Theatre) and is one of several similar “Cloak of Conscience” sculptures by Anna Chromy (influenced largely by Salvador Dali). This particular sculpture was commissioned in remembrance of the performance of Mozart’s Don Giovanni at the theatre in 1787.

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Even with overcast weather, looking up is rewarded with views of the amazing rooftops and spires of Prague.

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What better activity for a gloomy morning then to visit the cemetery… The Old Jewish cemetery is the oldest surviving Jewish cemetery in Europe with the first burial in 1439. Active for over 400 years it served ‘the ghetto’ to bury about 200,000 Jews. To make room in very little space, they buried in layers; in places as many as twelve layers deep. Only 12,000 tombstones remain today. It is hard to imagine this is only a small percentage of the actual number buried here.  The history of Jews in Prague is sad and unsettling. Adjacent to the cemetery is the Jewish Museum created in 1906 to preserve art and artifacts from synagogues being torn down due to renovations in the Jewish quarter. Ironically, during Nazi occupation in 1939, while the entire ‘ghetto’ was being exterminated, the Nazi’s decided not to demolish the museum but to use it as a “Museum of an Extinct/Vanished Race”. There were 92,000 Jews living in Prague at the beginning of WW-II, about 20% of the city’s population. More than 2/3 of them died in the Holocaust, including Franz Kafka’s three sisters.  

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I don’t remember what building this was on but thought it was nice ornamentation. Would make a good underarm deodorant commercial too…

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Just a cool ornamental street lamp fixture somewhere near the Old Jewish Quarter.

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Odd bronze sculpture near the entrance to the Spanish Synagogue. The sculpture was unveiled in 2003 and features Franz Kafka sitting astride a walking headless person. Inspired by Franz Kafka’s story “Description of a Struggle”…

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Spanish Synagogue 1868 is decorated with Moorish and Islamic designs. Absolutely breathtaking detail!

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John Huss Statue in front of Our Lady of Tyn Cathedral (or Jan Hus – Czech) he preached at Tyn before being condemned and burned at the stake. Jan Hus Day is still celebrated as a public holiday in the Czech Republic on every July 6, the anniversary of his martyrdom in 1415.

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We took a short bus tour which took us on a whirlwind visit to other points of interest in Prague. The Art nouveau architecture at the Municipal House and in old hotels was especially evident.

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“Fred and Ginger House” or “Dancing House” by Architect Frank Gehry. Completed in 1996 for what is now known as ING Bank. Concept of Static/Dynamic, Yin/Yang, intended to symbolize transition from Communism to Democracy. Built on a small piece of ground that had laid dormant since a house on the site was destroyed by US Bombing of Prague in 1945. There are lots of better photos out there (that weren’t shot through a bus window).

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The bus tour began and ended adjacent to St. Nicholas Church (1737-Baroque) which now belongs to The Czechoslovak Hussite Church. The church features an immense crystal light fixture hanging from the central dome.

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Amazing stained glass

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And, an amazing door pull handle…

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After wandering in the church awhile we headed toward The Powder Gate which we had seen on the bus tour and not realized how close it was. This unique sign caught my attention on the way.

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The Powder Gate. Begun in 1475 as one of 13 gates into Old Town sits astride Celetna Street, one of the oldest streets in Prague, and leads directly into Old Town Square. Everything around it has since been replaced so it looks rather out-of-place (but cool). It got its name during period of time gun power was stored in the tower.

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Municipal House is an Art Nuevo civic landmark completed in 1912 and containing Prague’s concert hall for the Prague Royal Orchestra. Following are some of the Art Nuevo stained glass, and detailing.

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Finishing out our visit to Prague we went back to the Old Town Hall Clock Tower expecting to brave the stairs to the top. To our pleasant surprise there was an elevator… excellent.

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View of the Powder Gate from the top of the Tower shows how newer development all around it has left it standing proudly as a testament to older (and more permanent) construction.

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Leaning out and looking straight down at all the people looking UP to watch the clock strike the hour.

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Old stone and wood doors leading to the Town Hall Senate chambers.

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Beautiful mosaic tile art in the entrance hall of the Old Town Hall.

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Detail of scene above.

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Next several shots are merges of multiple photos into wider panoramas.

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Night time at the clock tower

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And, Our Lady of Tyn

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A Starbucks (with vaulted ceilings)

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A final night stroll past Prague’s pastry and glass shops

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And our last day in Prague comes to an end.

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