Articoli di riviste sul tema "Prague. Cathedral of St. Vitus"

Prague Castle was the most important burial site of the Czech rulers and their relatives. The graves are located in the Church of the Virgin Mary, in St. George Church and Convent, and, in the greatest numbers in the St. Vitus Cathedral. Reliquary tombs of the most important Czech patron saints are also located at Prague Castle – in St. George Basilica, in St. Vitus Cathedral and in All Saints Church. We also know the graves of 12 Prague bishops that are located in the St. Vitus Cathedral. The majority of the aforementioned graves have been opened several times in the past for a variety of reasons, that caused various problems, the most serious of which involved the confusion of relics. The first systematic anthropological investigations were conducted at the beginning of the 20th century. The remains of nearly all historical personalities buried at Prague Castle were available for another anthropological study conducted in the 1960s. Currently, the research continues with modern nature science analyzes. In the past, removed grave goods did not receive proper care for the most part, mainly due to a lack of understanding as to what constituted correct procedures for handling artefacts deposited for years in the unsuitable conditions of graves and tombs. The grave goods themselves were often restored in an inappropriate manner. The restoration situation improved significantly after the establishment of restoration and conservation workshops in 2000. The opening of graves is problematic and, from an ethical point of view, should be performer only to a very limited extent. Necessary construction work is a common reason for disruption, and in this case remains should be treated with respect. And if grave goods are removed, they must be cared for in a proper manner, as these artefacts are often irreplaceable heritage whose scientific study is a legitimate pursuit. The mere lust for knowledge, often connected with efforts to generate sensation, does not entitle us to disturb the resting place of our ancestors with ill-considered interventions.

AbstractThe Habsburg Mausoleum in St. Vitus Cathedral in Prague, designed and constructed in the second half of the sixteenth century by Alexander Colin from Mecheln in the Low Countries, is often noted in modern scholarship as an early manifestation of the influence in Bohemia of the Habsburg dynasty, which had ascended the Bohemian throne in 1527 and ruled without interruption until 1918. Bridging both art historical and social cultural scholarship, this article explores the location and spatial features of the mausoleum, as well as its reception by contemporaries. It argues that while the style and size of the mausoleum is modest, its central location changed the dynastic symbolism in the cathedral, placing the Habsburgs at its center. And while it is less visible than other Habsburg cultural projects of its day, it—more than any single cultural project of the early Habsburg dynasty—demonstrates and symbolizes Habsburg ambitions in and commitment to Bohemia and is an important element in both the transformation of Prague into a Habsburg residential city and in long-term Catholic renewal efforts.

The work presented in this paper is a part of research project supported by Ministry of Culture and devoted to conservation of precious mosaic of "Last Judgement" on St. Vitus Cathedral in Prague. The aim of the project is to enhance external protective polymeric coating on glass tesserae of mosaic and also to develop optical method for assessment of coating’s surface conditions. The paper concentrates on comparison of various methods for surface evaluation assesses their advantages and disadvantages and also discusses their suitability for long term monitoring of coating state, namely reflectometry, scanning probe microscopy, nanoindentation, white-light interferometry, and scanning electron microscopy. It is found that white-light interferometry and reflectometry methods are the most suitable ones for monitoring purposes.

The Romanesque Cathedral of Saints Vitus, Wenceslaus and Adalbert in Prague was erected as a double-chancel basilica with western transept. Occidental transverse nave and two choirs is intrinsic and distinctive feature of this basilica that indicates architectural ideas from which the Cathedral had originated. Alas, the basilica has, hitherto, been rather interpreted in isolation and without considering the broader European architecture context and by detaching the western transept from its topographic context. This has discouraged scholars from rigorous analysis of the origins of the form, which resulted in the creation of arbitrary and stereotypical narrative instead. This paper presents new interpretation of the Cathedral which tracks the links between the basilica and double-choir churches with western transept in Central Europe. In addition, this research builds on spatial analysis which identifies the relationships between the Cathedral and the landform of Prague Castle.

The article first focuses on the significance of the Cathedral of Sts. Vitus, Wenceslas, and Adalbert to the Czech religious, national, and state identity. The importance of the cathedral is given primarily by its location (Prague Castle), as well as by the thinking of its founder, Charles IV, about the foundations of Czech statehood. On the basis of these findings, the significance and symbolism of the cathedral for the present can be understood. Following this, the legal status of the cathedral, which was the subject of the so-called “cathedral dispute” in its modern history, is examined. The current legal status of the cathedral is the result of an amicable solution to this dispute and the subsequent application of the right of superficies in Czech private law.

In the interwar period of 1920—1930s Prague was a recognized intellectual center of the Russia Abroad. The article analyzes the place occupied by the images of Prague and its historical heritage in the minds of Russian émigrés, how they constructed this images, how it was reflected in memoirs, letters, diaries, periodicals, scientific literature and fiction. The space of Prague was a special cultural text, formed at the intersection of various ethnic, religious and linguistic boundaries. For Russians, it was not just an urban space, but an active participant and witness to the historical process. In this regard, according to émigrés, few European cities could compare with it. The Prague urban space was perceived by Russians as the center of cultural symbols, among which a special place was given to famous architectural monuments — Charles Bridge, Prague Castle and the Church of St. Vitus, medieval streets of Malá Strana, etc. A special place is given to the analysis of the image of the Charles Bridge, which took on various guises. The bridge became an active figure, a practically protagonist of both artistic and scientific reflections. The article analyzes the influence of Prague images on the work of Russian émigrés such as Marina Tsvetaeva, Gleb Struve, Igor Severyanin, Valentin Bulgakov, Antony Florovsky, Sergey Pushkarev, etc. At the same time, it is concluded that, despite the historical charm of Prague recognized by the majority of Russians, a considerable number of émigrés perceived it as a provincial city, inferior to Moscow and St. Petersburg. It is shown that in the émigré intellectual culture there was a contradictory perception of Prague. At the same time, they wrote about it both about the center of the Slavic world, with deep historical roots, and about the cultural province of Europe. Therefore, the image of Prague was complex and contradictory. There is no doubt that the historical images of the Czech capital left a noticeable mark on the intellectual culture of the Russian emigration.

Abstract The essay attempts a new interpretation of the symbolic meaning of the chapel of St. Wenceslas in St. Vitus's Cathedral in Prague and the chapel of the Passion and Its Instruments, now St. Catherine's chapel, and the chapel of the Holy Cross, both at Karlstein Castle. They all feature a semiprecious stone dado, which was associated with the Passion of Christ due to its predominant red colour, while the upper part reflected the idea of the Heavenly Jerusalem and Christ's Second Coming. The chapels were either built to house the Passion relics or were probably planned for their storage, which in the case of the Wenceslas chapel perhaps influenced its unusual form, likely referring to Golgotha, the site of Christ's Passion.

The works of a Moravian poet of the Czech National Revival Aleš Balcárek (1840–1862) often depict the patron saint of Bohemia St Wenceslas. Balcárek asks St Wenceslas for help as the protector of the homeland and the nation. In 1862, the poet died of serious injuries sustained after he fell off the Horse Gate at Wenceslas Square. His tragic death was symbolically preceded by his exclamation: ‘Saint Wenceslas, intercede for us!’ The circumstances of his death give rise to many speculations about the real cause of the accident, because the student Balcárek had been monitored by the secret police for his patriotic stance. Balcárek’s patriotic motivation, embodied in the symbol of St Wenceslas, presumably dates back to his studies in Olomouc, where the Cathedral of St Wenceslas is located. Reminiscences of St Wenceslas also emerge in connection with Balcárek’s membership in Blaník, a student association in Prague (and the legend of St Wenceslas, who, accompanied by his knights, will come to the aid of the nation when it suffers most). The young man joined the Hlahol choir and learnt to sing in it the old Bohemian hymn ‘Saint Wenceslas!’; he became a skilled reciter who, under the influence of the scenery, often ended his performance with the exclamation: ‘Saint Wenceslas, do not let us and our descendants perish!’ In 1862, the funeral procession of the prematurely deceased talented hope of Moravian poetry symbolically passed by the old statue of St Wenceslas, situated in the middle of Wenceslas Square. The poem Můj zpěv [My Song], an excerpt from which is included in the text of the article, is the poet’s artistic and ideological legacy spanning centuries.

The research is concerning two unusual evidences of the late Medieval art, which could be seen in the Museum of the cathedral St. Stephan in Vienna. Both of them are related to Herzog Rudolf IV of Austria (1358 - 1365). One artefact in the museum is his silk gold woven shroud elaborated with especial mastership from Chinese silk in Tabriz, a city in present Iran. Especially important for this fabric is that thanks to the interwoven name of the ruler it could be dated precisely. The road of this Near East fabric to Europe and to the tomb of the Herzog in Vienna could be reconstructed. Rudolf IV died suddenly during the visit to his relative Bernabo Visconti in Milano who was one of the richest men in Europe by that time. Probably the fabric was brought across the Silk Road to Constantinople and further across the sea to Genova and to the city of silk Lucca and then to Milano. Such gold woven fabrics from the Islamic world could be found not rarely in the European ruler’s tombs. The second unusual object in the cathedral museum is a portrait of the Herzog. So far this portrait was attributed to a Prague artist. But it could be proved that it originated from Upper Italy and probably was painted by an artist from Verona who was associated to the society around the great humanist Francesco Petrarca. This portrait rises the question about the emergence of early ruler's portraits in Eu-rope and in this aspect is also related to achievements of the „Palaeologus Renaissance“ art in South – East Europe. The two objects are considered as expression forms of the ruler’s funeral culture of the late Medieval age. In the context formed by the comparative approach new possibilities for analysis are created which cross over the traditional methodology of History of Art.

Engelbert’s unedited work on animals is delivered to posterity in a limited number of manuscripts. The second part of the treatise that is discussed here closely follows the structure of Isidore of Seville’s encyclopaedia. In order to illustrate Engelbert’s work method and the emphasis of this part, the article focuses on the fourth category (de piscibus) which is an interesting section for a number of reasons. The main sources are specified and the text is compared to similar writings. Finally the edition of ten chapters out of 53 from this section completes the study. Born in Styria in the middle of the 13th century, Engelbert entered the Benedictine abbey of Admont as a teenager. Most facts of his life are related in his autobiographical letter written to his friend Ulric of Vienna. According to the letter he left the abbey for Prague in 1271, where he studied grammar and logic at the cathedral school. Political troubles caused by the election of Rudolph I for Roman king in October 1273, forced him to leave Bohemia one year later. Engelbert then returned to Admont for a short time; then decided to complete his education in Padua. There, he studied the liberal arts for five years (around 1276–1281) followed by theology for four more years at the Dominican monastery of St. Augustine. He then returned to Admont before being elected abbot of St. Peter in Salzbourg. He remained the head of the mother abbey of Admont for eleven years. In 1297, the abbot of Admont, Henri II, was murdered and Engelbert was chosen to replace him. He ruled the abbey for 30 years until 1327, when he resigned and retired. Four years later he died.

Pigments in the paints used for the coats of arms, polychromy on sculptures, and pigments in frescoes characterize not only the epoch but also individual creators or groups of artists involved in their creation. X-ray fluorescence analysis is a non-destructive method suitable for determining the chemical composition of these artifacts. This article covers the results of measurements of selected objects, and compares them with similar objects from the territory of the Czech Kingdom in the 14th century.

Generally speaking, paleochristian memoriae have emerged out of the funeral traditions of the pagan world of Antiquity with its particular expression of the cult of deceased, sustained with the culture that had come out of Christian theology and aesthetics. It came together withnew architectural forms some of which were characterized with cross-like forms, not only as a general symbol of new faith, but also as the spatial projection, model after which one had to build. It is defined by two axes that cross at the right angle, the framework of the overall architecturalcomposition, factor of building’s extension in its entire length and width, as well as the height of the building that is dominated and marked by a dome. This particular structure of the building expresses its own essence, memorial use and the Christian paradigm. Through form and function, these buildings have become a distinguished phenomenon of the Christian civilization, valued in the architecture from the late antiquity to Romanesque period.Mature form of the space intended for the cult of the deceased, particularly when small cruciform churches are in question, is remarkably expressed in the preserved chapel of St. Lawrence, widely known as the mausoleum of Galla Placidia, one of two identical buildings once located at the ends of the narthex of the Ravennate church of the Holy Cross. The lower space of Theodoric’s mausoleum in Ravenna is also cruciform, however one should also remember emperor Justinian’s cruciform tombin Constantinople church of the Holy Apostles. It was demolished in the 15 century, together with the whole complex, and is known only through historical sources.Together with the Ravennate memoriae, such tombs could have – directly or indirectly – influence the formation of the cruciform memoriae in the Adriatic cultural landscape from Late Antiquity to Romanesque period.This paper elaborates the group of approximately fifteen buildings that demonstrate – through their forms and funerary functions – perseverance of particular cruciform plan of a memoriae within the Adriatic ambiance. A particularly numerous group is that of southern Istria, which consists of the Pula cathedral baptistery, two chapels by the basilica of Sta Maria Formosa and St. Mathew’s chapel in Pula, that of St. Catharine on a nearby islet and the supposed cruciform church of St. Andrew on an island in front of Rovinj. To such a concentration of the paleochristian memoriae one should link two early-mediaeval chapels, that of St. Clement in Pula and St. Thomas’ near Rovinj. The latter’s forms were already commented by Ivan Matejčić to follow and repeat paleochristian features. Among these features there are three protruding apses similar to those of St. Catharine’s. Therefore, it seems that the forms and themeasures of pre-Romanesque chapels were taken from those of the nearby Byzantine buildings, rather than from the distant Carolingian examples in Italy or France. Earlier and later southern Istrian memoriae are treated here as a typological group with emphasized regional features and continuity. Their forms differ only in some less important details, e.g. facades being either flat or articulated with lesenes. Their common features are, on the other hand, elementary architectural composition, spatial structure that consists of four branches and the dome hidden in the drum, as well as their dimensions and proportions. An element ofparticular interest is the octagonal upper part of the dome on Pula baptistery, that on St. Catharine’s on an islet in front of Pula as well as one on St. Andrew’s on an islet in front of Rovinj. These are probably reconstructions of the older solution. Within the supposedly later construction, there is a dome, a trula, as Pietro Kandler has named it, relating it with the Longboard architecture. It is carried by squinches.This solution is, actually, the Byzantine tradition in the area of Ravennate influences. A similar dome is constructed above the cruciform chapel consecrated to St. Mary Mater Domini (Theotokos), built next to the church of St. Felix and Fortunato in Vicenza, in 6 century. It seems that the same tradition was followed by very similar buildings, Paduan chapel of San Prosdocimo, and the memory erected by Santi Apostoli in Verona. On the other hand, St. Clement’s in Pula did not have a dome of such type and this church had yet another significant difference from the other Istrian chapels, the rectangular extension of areas in front of the apses. Another example that stands out from the group is the church of St. Euphemia at Saline bay in Lim channel. It is an Early Romanesque chapel with three apses at the rear. Lateral branches are reduced; they are much shorter than the front one, and give an impression of a transept rather than cruciform branches, as in other churches of the group. The upper part of the walls give no evidence of neither vaults nor a dome.Differently from the typological unity of the paleochristian and early mediaeval Istrian memoriae, those in Dalmatia show significant variability of the theme, already noticeable at the physiognomy of the earlier examples. For instance, the small baptistery in Baška on the island of Krk is an orderly cruciform building with relatively short branches and unarticulated flat walls, similar to Pula baptistery. The ground plan of St. Martin’s on the island of Cres is considerably different. It was a considerably larger building, probably in a memorial function related to a nearby villa rustica. It also has the rectangular extension in front of the apse, like St. Clement’s at Pula. Its walls show no traces of vaulted constructions. In a later phase, it was probably used as a parish church, like some examples of Dalmatian triconchal churches. A particular articulation of the walls, different from all of the Istrian and Dalmatiancruciform memoriae, was that of St. Cyprian’s chapel at Gata. Its short branches are rectangular on the outside, while on the inside they have inscribed round apses. Therefore, the outer surfaces have narrow round niches as relief of the thickened angles. Memory of the Holy Cross at Nin also has a round apse inscribed in the rectangular body of its rear branch. However, it is flanked by two smaller protruding apses, i.e. three in total. Other branches are vaulted with a half-dome on angular squinches that are also constructed below the drum with the dome inside. Ivo Petricioli has long ago suggested that its proportions indicate influences of the early mediaeval Byzantine architecture. This is further corroborated by its outer surfaces articulated with shallow niches. These features do not appear in Carolingian architecture, so it seems that the Holy Cross should be dated into the 10th or the 11th century. It also should be related tothe influences from nearby Zadar - contemporary capitol of the Byzantine Theme of Dalmatia - with the church of St. Vitus whose features, both general form and details, are of the same type of the building. Furthermore, they should be compared with the chapel of St. Donatus at Kornić on Krk Island. This small church is of apparently different groundplan, but one could still consider it a cruciform type. Its front and rear branches are rectangular, and there are indications that the rear branch had a round apse inscribed, similarly to the memory of the Holy Cross at Nin. However, its lateral branches are relatively small round apses, protruding from the sides of the chapel. Among them, there is a relativelyspacious central section with the dome constructed on the squinches. Miljenko Jurković has plausibly dated the church in 12th century, while I believe that it confirms the continuity of the paleochristian cruciform type of the Christian memory in Istria and Dalmatia from Late Antiquity to theRomanesque period. This is proven by some contemporary constructions, such as the chapel of an unknown title at Crkvina near Kašić, near Biljani Donji, that has also been dated in Romanesque period. In spite of some individual differences all of the memoriae compared in this paper, both groups are assembled by numerousness and similarities of both cruciform plans and funerary functions. Also, the influence of Adriatic Byzantine centres, particularly that of Ravenna, Pula and Zadar, is noticeable in formation of the regional characteristics of memorial architecture in the cultural ambiance of Istria and Dalmatia, within the context of long-lasting continuity of its forms and functions, from Late Antiquity to Romanesque period.

Karel Wiesner was born on 25 November 1919 in Prague at the home of his maternal grandparents, the only child of Karel František Wiesner (1892-1980) and his wife Evzenie Ruzena née Stérová (b. 1898). The home of his Prague grandparents stood on the quay of the Vltava (Moldau) River, its windows facing the historic panorama of the Hradcany Castle and St Vitus Cathedral, a location Wiesner probably would have chosen himself, since his love of his country of birth and pride in its history stayed with him all through his life. On his father’s side, he came from a widely respected family of eastern Bohemia, engaged for three generations in mechanical engineering. Wiesner’s great-grandfather, František Wiesner (1832-1880), son of a poor farm labourer, rose to become builder and operator of the largest machine manufacturing plant and steel mill in Chrudim, eastern Bohemia. To generations of school children, he came to represent what is meant by a passion for excellence and hard work. Leading Czech writer and poet, Jan Neruda, wrote a story of František’s life and accomplishments which was featured in the primary reading book throughout the country. It related the life of a self-taught man who almost single-handedly modernized the economy of eastern Bohemia and brought unprecedented prosperity to the country, along with a high reputation for Czech workmanship - an important factor in the self-esteem of a reawakening nation.