Balloonist’s delight - a photo on Flickriver

            Lesser Quarter side at the Vltava river with the Hradčany district as well as Prague Castle and St. Vitus Cathedral in the background, seen from the Charles Bridge, Prague, Czech Republic

Some background information:

Hradčany is the castle district of the city of Prague which surrounds the castle. According to the Guinness Book of World Records Prague Castle is the largest coherent castle complex in the world with an area of almost 70,000 m², being  570 meters in length and an average of about 130 meters in width. St. Vitus Cathedral is located within the castle area.  It used to be the seat of the Kings of Bohemia as well as the Holy Roman Emperors and the Bohemian Crown Jewels are still kept here.

The history of Prague Castle stretches back to the year 870. The first walled building was the Church of Our Lady. The basilicas of St. George and St Vitus were founded in the first half of the 10th century. A Romanesque palace was erected during the 12th century. And in the 14th century, under the reign of Charles IV, the royal palace was rebuilt in Gothic style and the castle fortifications were strengthened.

During the Hussite Wars and the following decades the castle wasn't inhabited. In 1485 King Ladislaus II Jagello began to rebuild the castle. The massive Vladislav Hall was added to the Royal Palace. But a fire in 1541 destroyed large parts of the castle. Under the Habsburgs some new buildings in renaissance style appeared here. Ferdinand I built Belvedere, a summer palace for his wife Anne. Rudolph II used Prague Castle as his main residence. He founded the northern wing of the palace with the Spanish Hall, where his precious artistic collections were exhibited. The Second Prague Defenestration in 1618 began the Bohemian Revolt. During the subsequent wars the Castle was damaged and dilapidated. Many works from the collection of Rudolph II were looted by Swedes in 1648, in the course of the Thirty Years' War. The last major rebuilding of the castle was carried out by Queen Maria Theresa in the second half of the 18th century.
 
In 1918 the castle became the seat of the president of the new Czechoslovak Republic. The New Royal Palace and the gardens were renovated by Slovenian architect Jože Plečnik. Renovations continued in 1936 under Plečnik's successor Pavel Janák.

During the Nazi occupation of Czechoslovakia Prague Castle became the headquarters of the "Protector of Bohemia and Moravia" Konstantin von Neurath and his deputy, Reinhard Heydrich. It is said that the latter placed the Bohemian crown on his head. But old legends say that a usurper who places the crown on his head is doomed to die within a year. Less than a year after assuming power Heydrich was assassinated.

After the liberation of Czechoslovakia, Prague Castle housed the offices of the communist Czechoslovak government.

St. Vitus Cathedral is the seat of the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Prague. Its full name is St. Vitus, St. Wenceslas and St. Adalbert Cathedral. Containing the tombs of many Bohemian kings and Holy Roman Emperors, the cathedral, which is also the biggest and most important church in the country, is an excellent example of Gothic architecture.

The first church, which was also consecrated to St. Vitus, was an early Romanesque rotunda founded by Wenceslaus I, Duke of Bohemia in 925. In the year 1060, as the bishopric of Prague was founded, prince Spytihněv II embarked on building a more spacious church, as it became clear that the existing rotunda was too small to accommodate the faithful. Therefore a much larger and more representative Romanesque basilica was built on its spot.

The present day Gothic Cathedral was founded in 1344. Charles IV, King of Bohemia and the soon-to-be Holy Roman Emperor, intended the new cathedral to be a coronation church, family crypt and treasury for the most precious relics of the kingdom. The first master builder was Matthias of Arras, a Frenchman, who was summoned from the papal palace in Avignon. He designed the overall layout of the building as basically an import of French Gothic. After Matthias of Arras' death in 1352, a new master builder took over the cathedral workshop. It was Peter Parler, at that time only 23-years old. After Peter Parler's death in 1399 his sons Wenzel Parler and particularly Johannes Parler continued his work.

The entire building process came to a halt with the beginning of Hussite War in the first half of 15th century and a great fire in 1541 considerably damaged the cathedral. Through most of the following centuries it stood only half-finished, but In 1844 Vácslav Pešina, an energetic canon, together with Josef Kranner, a Neo-Gothic architect, presented a programme for renovation and completion of St. Vitus Cathedral. By the time of St Wenceslas jubilee in 1929, the cathedral was finally finished, 600 years after it was begun.

After all the building which you can see on the left side of my picture, just above the river boat, is "Kampa Park", probably Prague’s most popular luxury restaurant. Many famous celebrities like Sean Connery,  Tom Cruise or Michael Douglas  already dined here and it is also said that Hillary Clinton is one of the restaurant’s biggest fans.

Taken in: Česká republika / Hlavní město Praha / Praha / Malá Strana (show map)

Taken on: October 2, 2010

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