St Vitus Cathedral

On Thursday we visited Prague Castle beginning with St Vitus Cathedral.

This stained glass window was created by Alphonse Mucha.

Mucha’s prominence in the late 19th Century made him an cultural icon of Czech Nationalism, along with Dvorak and Smetana.

His art included Art Nouveau commercial water-color posters and stained glass, as well as his most famous work Slav Epic.

With spires, buttresses, and pointed arches, St Vitus Cathedral is the most important Church in Czechia, contained entirely within Prague Castle, and uniquivically Gothic.

I will try to summarize the most coherent theory of why St John of Nepomuk was important.

In the Western Schism of 1378-1417, the Pope in Avignon and the Pope in Rome were split over the Investiture Controversy, with the Pope in Rome holding that the Pope had prerogative in appointing Clergy, but the Pope in Avignon holding that temporal rulers did.

From his relative position of authority within the Saint Giles Cathedral, St John of Nepomuk disagreed with King Wenceslaus IV regarding who should appoint the new abbot for the Abby of Kladruby, for which King Wenceslaus IV tortured and drowned him.

St Wenceslas was Duke of Bohemia in the 10th Century.

His significance was that a lot of people at the time were converting from Paganism to Christianity, and Wenceslas was Christian. I recommend Bohemican Podcast Episode 10

This entrance was reserved for coronation ceremonies, contains a golden mosaic of The Last Judgement.