At some of the previous puzzle waymarks, we mentioned that Prague Castle stands on a hill above Prague. Therefore, it is well visible and prominent from many places. At the waymark (
visit link) , the access to the castle from the southern side was mentioned. The starting point of this route is Lesser Town Square [CZ: Malostranské námestí], where you can find and see many other remarkable sights and monuments in Prague. Lesser Town Square is divided by the building of St. Nicholas Church into two parts.
In the northwest corner of the square, Nerudova Street leads to the square. This street takes us up steeply to U Hradu Street, and through it, we reach the entrance gate of Prague Castle.
Before leaving Malostranské námestí, we can stop in front of the entrance to the Church of St. Nicholas. There is a very interesting view that rises above the rooftops of the houses on Nerudova Street. The towers of St. Vitus Cathedral can be seen from there.
"Encircled by the buildings of the Castle complex, St Vitus Cathedral towers over them and is one of the most famous landmarks in Prague. It is also both the largest church in Prague and the largest cathedral in the Czech Republic.
The site of the cathedral stands on the site of a sacrificial altar to the heathen fertility god Svantovit, which partly helps explain why the original church, founded in 929 by Prince Václav, was dedicated to St Vitus. The cathedral was only finished in 1929, exactly 1000 years after the first church was established.
Establishing a medieval cathedral was the idea of Emperor Charles IV (1346-78), who at the time was merely heir to the throne. He created a separate archbishopric in Prague and brought the relics of St Wenceslas to the church. Charles originally commissioned Frenchman Matthias of Arras to start work on the cathedral, which was to be similar to Narbonne Cathedral in France, but Matthias died in 1352, eight years after work started. The emperor then asked mason Petr Parlér, who was just 23, to continue the work. Parlér worked on the cathedral and other buildings in the city, but when he died, in 1399, only the choir and south transept had been completed.
Over the following centuries, St Vitus Cathedral remained unfinished, and engravings from those periods depict the cathedral without a nave. The Czech National Revival in the nineteenth century prompted calls for the cathedral to be finished: a complete cathedral was seen as a symbol of Czech nationhood. Many architects, principally Josef Mocker and Kamil Hilbert, were involved in the construction of the nave, and artists and sculptors designed the furnishings and stained glass. An official opening ceremony was held in 1929."
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