Prague Castle

Prague, Czech Republic – This is actually my second take at this post. Blogger somehow deleted my first (nearly complete) draft. I’ll give you my best effort at reconstructing my thoughts, but mind, the first draft was Pulitzer-caliber stuff. So if this is anything less, you should just remember that lightening doesn’t strike twice, OK?

Also, H and I did a lot of stuff in Prague and we shared a lot of profound insights and frankly, I’m not going to be able to get to all of it in this first writing. So, I’m going to limit the scope a bit and set the table here by describing the first thing we did. But, I think this first thing provides some good context for the people and the place, so subsequent posts (which I may or may not get to) will really benefit from this. Anyway: Prague castle.

Prague castle sits atop a hill on the western side of the city. It is a large complex of structures, including churches, palaces, workshops, etc. ringed by a fortifying wall.  According to some people and all Czechs it is the world’s largest castle. This seems to be a matter of some dispute. One might note, for example, that the Forbidden City in Beijing is more than twice the area and similarly equipped with temples, palaces, workshops, etc. and ringed by a fortifying wall. This raises all kinds of interesting questions about the definition and measurement of castles. Perhaps the Forbidden City is disqualified by its unfortunate descriptor, “city.” Of course, “Forbidden City” is the anglicized version of the original Chinese, “Zijin Cheng,” which to my understanding had multiple layers of meaning and anyway, certainly wasn’t chosen to disqualify the Forbidden City from future consideration of various honorifics. A closer inspection of the Prague Castle website reveals that the Czech’s more specifically claim that their castle is “the largest coherent castle complex.” “Coherent” of course adding a significant new dimension to our challenge, namely whether or not a given castle/non-castle is coherent, or at least sufficiently coherent. I’ll admit that questions of architectural coherence are well beyond the scope of my expertise. However, I will note that the Czech’s feel they are on pretty firm ground here, given that their claim has been validated by none other than the Guinness Book of World Records, which, as we all know, has an unimpeachable record.

The most prominent feature of the castle is St. Vitus Cathedral, which is named after the eponymous saint. St. Vitus is roughly analogous to England’s Westminster Abbey, blending together the country’s religious and political traditions. Bohemian kings and Holy Roman Emperors were crowned here, and later entombed here. The various saints venerated here are Czech or somehow important in Czech history.

Despite the Cathedral’s name, the most prominent saintly figure of the Cathedral is St. Wenceslas, a Bohemian king who is the patron saint for the Czech Republic. Wenceslas’ iconography adorns many buildings, squares, etc. around Prague. A lot of the history of Wenceslas is hazy, seeing as he lived in the 10^th century, but the basic mythology is that he was a pious and benevolent leader who looked out for the little guy and nurtured the country’s burgeoning Christianity. Wenceslas was murdered/martyred by his brother, “Boseslaus the Cruel,” when their shaky power-sharing arrangement went south. Wenceslas founded the church in the 10^th century, and he is entombed here in the most prominent of the Cathedral’s chapels.

Wenceslas, as depicted in Wenceslas Square. Source: Intrepid Urban Adventures

Construction of St. Vitus began in 1344 and was only completed in 1929. This tortured construction effort reflects the country’s challenging history. At various times, construction was marred by religious strife (the Cathedral was sacked in the 15^th century by Hussites), warfare (heavy damage was inflicted in the 18^th century during the battle of Prague), and neglect/disinterest from various foreign occupiers. Yet despite the neglect and abuse, the cathedral survived and now serves as a nice symbol of the country’s emergence as an independent nation.

The palace also includes a variety of structures for government, including royal residences and various halls and chambers for legislating and administration. The government structures themselves were interesting mostly for the history, as they were not architecturally spectacular. Bohemia during the 15^th-17^th centuries had an impressively liberal government, allowing for a degree of religious freedom and distributing power beyond the strict confines of the monarchy. During the 17^th century, the Catholic Hapsburg monarch started to restrict religious freedom and consolidate power among Catholics, stripping protestants of their titles and authority. Unsurprisingly, this didn’t go over very well. In 1618, several of the recently marginalized noblemen stormed into the palace and identified the Catholic administrators who were responsible for their plight. It seems the administrators were insufficiently contrite and so the protestant noblemen proceeded to throw them out the window. This has come to be known as the “Defenestration of Prague,” though it should be mentioned that defenestration was a relatively popular means for expressing discontent at the time, and this incident was not the first time people were tossed from windows in Prague. However, this particular incident had a more significant aftermath and so, of the many defenestrations that occurred in Prague, this one is “the” defenestration of Prague. In any case, the three defenestrated officials survived their 70-foot plunge and escaped. The ensuing turmoil caused by this defenestration culminated in the 30-years war, which sadly tore the country apart. The defenestration and how the officials survived became the subject of competing propaganda. Catholics asserted that divine intervention had saved the three officials from certain death. Protestants claimed they fell in a pile of shit. The likeliest explanation is that the slope of the hill combined with their thick, plush vestments limited the impact.

Thanks to Wikipedia for much of the material.

THE Defenestration of Prague. Source: An Illustrated History of Slavic Misery

Interior of St. Vitus

West entrance to St. Vitus

South entrance to St. Vitus