We leave the portal of the St. Vitus Cathedral and walk to the right of the temple to the centre of the third castle courtyard. In the middle of the courtyard is the equestrian statue of St. George and a tall stone monolith - the so-called Mrakotín monolith. This is a memorial to the fallen in World War I. The biggest attraction here is, of course, the 97-metre high south tower of the St. Vitus Cathedral, the third highest church tower in the Czech Republic. From the period paintings and drawings you can see how the construction of the church progressed over the centuries. Today, the temple serves not only for worship but also as a treasury of Czech crown jewels and the mausoleum of Czech kings.
The note about default photo
The angle of inclination of the towers is not exactly according to the model. The photographed object is very tall, the exposure distance is short - I tried to move the camera further away from the temple, or to tilt it differently - the inclination of the towers improved, but then I was not able to capture their entire height.
"Prague castle - III. Courtyard
A granite monolith sixteen meters high rises in the third courtyard of Prague Castle. Where did it actually come from? It was brought from Mrakotina. Originally, it should have been higher, but during the transportation the stone flew apart. Transportation was funded by T. G. Masaryk who used his private resources. It was placed on the tenth anniversary of Masaryk Republic, which took place in 1928. It serves as a memorial to the victims of the First World War. The obelisk was created according to J. Plecnik’s suggestions. That entire colossus from polished noble granite weighing one hundred and ten tons, was supplemented by a two-meter pyramid at the top in 1996.
Also you can see here a statue of St. George. This is one of the most significant Czech Gothic statues made of bronze. The statue shows St. George who is fighting with the dragon. Since the statue was damaged several times, in the court you can see only the spear. If you want to see the original, you have to go to the National Gallery.
The present day cathedral is the third sacred building consecrated to one patron in one place. Around 925 Saint Wenceslas Czech prince, founded here a Romanesque rotunda. After 1060, the rotunda was rebuilt into a three-nave basilica with two towers. In 973, a bishopric was founded in Prague. It was a very important moment in the history of the whole cathedral because a canonry was established here – the Metropolitan Chapter House of St. Vitus. It later became a very important institution.
Later, the three-nave basilica was replaced with a new building since in 1344 the Emperor Charles IV commenced the construction of a gothic cathedral. The cathedral was rising and other houses were annexed. Thanks to master builders such as Matthias of Arras and later also Peter Parler, this period saw the origin of unique items, for instance the chancel with a ring of chapels, the St. Wenceslaus’ Chapel, the Golden Portal and the bottom part of the great tower."
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