St. Vitus' Cathedral stands immediately behind Prage Castle (you could see its two front spires and the top of its clock tower above the roof of the Castle in this picture. It wasn't possible to stand far enough back in the walled in courtyard to get a wide enough view of the whole cathedral so I had to build another composite shot. I didn't set the photos up quite right hence the odd gaps on the corners of this composite.

The original Romesque rotunda of the cathedral was built in the 1020s by Prince Wenceslas. It was built at the highest point of Prague Castle and the relics of St. Vitus were placed in it. When the Prague bishopric was promoted to an archbishopric in 1344 a new church was built to commemorate it. So the foundation of a Gothic cathedral was laid by John of Luxembourg and his sons, Charles and Jan Jindřich.

The cathedral is 124 meters long, 60 meters wide across the transept and the main arch is 33 meters high. The vault over the nave is reticulated and the later builder, Peter Parléř, was the first cathedral builder in central Europe to use this type of vaulting.

The faceade of the two towers at the entrance were built much more recently, however, with the rose window between them depicting the creation of the world designed in 1921.

In the bottom center-right of this picture is seen the "Golden Gate", a ceremonial entrance for processions and where kings came for their coronation. It is called "golden" because of the mosaic over it, based on the subject of the Last Judgement, made by Venetian artists in 1370-1371.

St. Vitus' Cathedral