Rosie and The Operator are climbing the hill across the Vltava River today and visiting Prague Castle with its sprawling complex which has the accolade of being the largest ancient castle complex in the world!
The spiky dark towers of St Vitus Cathedral sit within the grounds of Prague Castle looking over the whole city from its perch on the hilltop. These spires will be in every photo you take of Prague when you are in the Old Town looking out over the river towards the castle on the hill.
It’s the 30th of November and its cold outside, -2c is the current temp but its looking to reach a balmy high of 0c. Rosie was hoping for snow but it is actually getting warmer! The breeze however is brisk. Through the towns narrow streets it cuts like a knife and seems a lot colder. Instead of walking up the hill to the castle we opt for a taxi and will walk downhill home afterwards instead. Rosie is pleased, we are at the castle gates at 0930 and the crowds are quite thin.
Prague Castle is encased within a fortified wall and was founded in 870 during the reign of Vratislaus I and his son Wenceslas. On our chosen entrance ticket, of which there are a few options, we will be visiting The Old Royal Palace, The Church of St George, The Basilica of St Vitus and Golden Lane which are all within the castle grounds.
The castle, amazingly, has been continuously occupied since it was built, by Kings, Emperors and Presidents, today it houses the office of the current Czech President.
Outside the walls of the Parliamentary House two armed soldiers stand guard one on each side of the gateway.
They are a special branch of the Czech Military solely designated to guard the president. Rosie felt sorry for them standing stony faced and statue still in the freezing cold having to put up with idiot tourists getting super close to take selfies with them. They don’t move a muscle and will stay like that for one hour until their shift has ended and the guard changes out….bet they are stiff when they are finally allowed to move again.
Check out the giant brutal statues on top of the gates above the guards…..bet that’s what they felt like doing to said idiot tourists.
Through the gates we walked to the castle complex, round the corner and through a narrow tunnel which popped us out onto a narrow street so close and right in front of the Basilica of St Vitus. The basilica is neck breakingly incredible and I literally mean that as the building soars so high above you and there is so little room to be able to fit it all in a picture within the narrow confines of the street it faces.
The Castle grounds are free to enter and wander around as is the foyer of the Basilica. Rosie and The Operator bought a Concession of Tickets to visit the main sights within the complex. It always cracks Rosie up when she reads online reviews from people saying they didn’t need to buy tickets as you can see it all from the outside. Man they were missing out!
Inside the Basilica this is all the free peek you are able to see in the picture below, the crowd of people are those not paying to go any further….and wow, it is amazing what they can see! The ceiling seems to float in another stratosphere above your head and the columns supporting the nave are long and delicate. The light is so soft and rosy coloured filtering in from the stained glass windows that are hidden on the sides.
However, buy the ticket, step through the barrier and the secrets of the basilica are revealed. The crowds suddenly thin…who would have thought there would so many cheap skates, and you are (relatively) alone to enjoy what Rosie will contentiously say is one of the best churches she has ever visited. Here is Rosie below taking a photograph back at the crowd of freebies.
Behind every single one of those columns running up and down the church aisle is a side chapel and they are amazing. Each chapel holds a huge arched stained glass window, the colours are bright and transcendent, the depictions of saints, kings and commoners are breathtaking.
There is also an alter in each chapel honoring a dearly departed ancient saint or bishop. They too are opulent and detailed, behind the alter is also a huge fresco further honoring the life and times of said saint or bishop.
The scale of everything is huge, domineering and pious looking in true Catholic fashion. Round the back of the main alter you come to this amazingly huge silver tomb of St John of Nepomuck. Rosie has never heard of him during her Catholic school days…who may this Saint be that resides in such an opulent, important eternal resting place?
Well, St John was born in 1345 and was a favored confessional priest of the Queen. In a nutshell The King wanted to know the Queens confessional secrets. John wouldn’t tell. So…the King tortured John, bound him in chains and threw him off the Charles Bridge, yes, the very bridge we visited yesterday, Rosie knew that bridge had secrets…apparently his ghost still wanders the Bridge today. If it does, Rosie didn’t see it…there were way too many tourists, the ghost must have blended in.
Sooooo, here lies the entombed martyred body of St John of Nepomuck, a favored Saint of the City of Prague due to his martyrdom, encased within two tonnes of silver for all eternity. It is truly an amazingly OTT sight. Silver cherubs hang from the ceiling holding a (shockingly) dusty, red canopy over the tomb… it really is quite gobsmackingly incredible.
The tomb of St Wenceslas on the other hand is quite minimal and somber but still pretty impressive as are the artworks outlining his life. You know, his father was the one who first started building the Castle complex way back in the 800s. You all know a little about this good King…even if it is just the Christmas Carol written about him…….that is now irritatingly running through your head. It is isnt it?….Go on, admit it, you are humming it.
I will refresh you on the facts….King Wenceslas was a kind and wise young man beloved by all in the land for his fairness and bravery, who upon coming of age to rule the kingdom of Bohemia decided to fairly split his Kingdom in two so his brother could rule the other half. Just like a fairy tale, his wicked brother Boreslaus The Cruel (serious, that is his moniker, consigned to history) conspired with a group of usurpers to take over the WHOLE kingdom and assassinated his brother by stabbing him in the back. Wenceslas, slain at the age of 28 was made another beloved Saint of Prague for his martyrdom and his story lives on with the famous Christmas Carol reinforcing his kindness. You are still humming it….Rosie is.
Stepping out of the Basilica we popped into a large courtyard that afforded us the side view of the mighty and impressive building. The foundation stone of the building you see today was placed in 1344 and the church wasn’t finished until 600 years later in 1953. The original architect set the tone of the design but he died after 8 years and the project was taken over by the German architect that designed the biggest Cathedral in the world…Cologne cathedral.
At the end of the Square through an innocuous door we enter the Old Royal Palace which was built in the 12th Century. You cant really tell you have entered a specific new building as all of the frontages in the square seem to be joined together. No buildings seem to be stand alone except for the Basilica.
This is the original medieval palace of the Kings and you enter straight into the Main Hall. It is a beautiful, large and open space with the most amazing Gothic vaulted ceiling Rosie has ever seen.
Remember this was built in the 1100s! The enormous chandeliers look tiny in this huge space and the large windows let in a muted light through the ancient warped glass window panes. Stone seating rings the hallway and the windows reach the bottom of the seats, you can totally image a medieval ball and clusters of ladies sitting on these seats having a gossip.
What a room to be invited to a party in! The whole palace is so basic, and old worldly authentic with small rooms and windows and beautiful high ceilings. You could easily imagine living here, it just seems so livable for something built so long ago.
Upstairs is this room that holds the Coats of Arms for the different positions held within the Palace and the names of the men that held them. They are so well preserved. In one of the rooms there is a cabinet with books in it….not sure if they are real….they look damn fine though and were totally in keeping.
Upon leaving the old palace we exited out into another square… and walked right into a small Christmas Market. This market sat right on the back side of St Vitus Basilica, its best side by far. Totally impressive!
The market square was busy with visitors drinking mulled wine and having a bite to eat from the many stalls on offer. Stand up tables were spaced around the square to pause and eat from and the air was smoky and delicious smelling.
Time for a mulled wine too Rosie thinks…non of the buildings we had been into were warm in the least…Rosie was needing an internal pick me up. We didn’t want to linger too long in the cold, and anyway the wine is only nice warm, and only remains warm for a short amount of time…in today’s temps you had about 5 mins to drink a cup full before it cooled to much. No problem for us.
Suitably fortified we entered this red building on the Market Square which houses the Church of St George, see how closely everything has been built together. The modern (its only a couple of hundred years old) red exterior and architecture of this building belies the ancient church that resides within.
This church is the oldest, original building in the palace complex having been built in 1142 in dedication to St George the Dragon Slayer. The original church of 932, was burnt down in a fire and this one has replaced it and has stood the test of time.
Rosie and The Operator did not expect to see what we saw inside…for a space so old it was another naturally lit area full of muted light and fragments of ancient 12th century frescoes, wrought iron, minimal design and an elegant double staircase smack bang in the middle.
Between the stairs you walk down to a small crypt where the bodies of the 12th century kings are buried and a creepy statue of a decomposing corpse stands. This is a 16th century work called Brigita by an Italian sculptor who murdered his girlfriend, Brigita. Upon the discovery of her decomposed body he was driven mad with remorse and guilt and from that day on could only draw or sculpt images of her decaying corpse.
Mere steps away we enter the ticket only area called The Golden Lane….everyone had converged on here at once it seemed to Rosie….then again the street itself is as narrow as the lane of houses built there.
The Golden Lane was built in the 16th Century to specifically house the palaces Goldsmiths. You can see the grey tall wall at the back of the picture below, that is the castle wall, look again at how narrow the roof tops are, they are tiny thin houses indeed. Small, yet perfectly formed and colourful. Quirky and pretty in their tininess every door way needs to be stooped through and you can nearly touch the other side of the house from the front door.
Rosie had serious wreath envy here….isnt it beautiful? This street is very short and like Rosie said it is abit of a people funnel…patience was definitely a virtue here when it came to photo taking.
If Rosie had gone with the flow she would have only been taking photos of people and you would not have been able to see the houses. There is always a natural ebb and flow of people, if you are prepared to wait….and wait.
And what is an ancient castle complex without a few of its ancient torture devices out on display in the tower as you leave….
Being up on the high ground certainly didn’t disappoint either when you looked back over the Charles Bridge towards the spires of the Old Town.
Rosie and The Operator strolled down the castle hill through the royal vineyard which is the oldest operational vineyard in the Czech Republic.
It was getting colder and seeing this sculpture of a piddling man whose hips were gaily swiveling as he piddled into a half frozen puddle with a mate opposite doing the same…. made Rosie want to go to the loo too.
We found an Old Town Tavern, which was so toasty and warm…divested our scarf, gloves, coats and hats and had a wonderful Peasant Platter of roast Duck, Rabbit, Venison and Pork with different style dumplings and red and white cabbage. Oh yes, it was a meat feast made in heaven and just perfect for the climate!
Tomorrow we are going on a day trip to the small town of Kutna Hora, a half an hours drive away to check out their Bone Chapel….
