21.11.1344 The foundation stone of St. Vitus Cathedral was laid

In 1344 the Prague bishopric was elevated to an archbishopric and this significant change was to be symbolized by the construction of the new St. Vitus Cathedral.Thefoundation stone for the building was laid on 21 November of this year by King John of Luxembourg in the presence of King Charles.

St. VitusCathedralat Prague Castle is a world-famous building of great importance. Its history is very rich. The original Romanesque rotunda of St. Vitus was founded in the 1520s by Prince St. Wenceslas to preserve the gift of Emperor Henry the Birds - the arm of St. Vitus - since then the patron saint of Bohemia.

He built it on the highest point of Prague Castle, thus making the layout of all the buildings in the third courtyard forever. However, the Romanesque rotunda was soon insufficient for all the faithful visiting the holy relics. "Prince Spytihnev had it demolished and began to build a basilica in its place, which was completed only under his successor, Prince Vratislav II. The son of John of Luxembourg and Eliška Premyslovna, Charles, was baptized in this church, and was then the most instrumental in the construction of the Gothic cathedral," writes Pavla Jungmannová in her book Rumours about bells, bell ringers, belfries and bell towers.

In 1344, the Bishopric of Prague was elevated to an archbishopric and this important change was to be symbolised by the building of the new St Vitus Cathedral. The foundation stone for the building was laid on 21 November of that year by King John of Luxembourg in the presence of King Charles, Archbishop Arnost of Pardubice and other dignitaries.

The first builder of the cathedral was Matthias of Arras in 1344-1352, who built eight chapels at the end of the cathedral in the classical literary style of French cathedrals. After his death, Charles IV chose the then twenty-three-year-old Petr Parléř as the builder. He was a brilliant architect and sculptor of the early Late Gothic period, and his ideas made Prague Cathedral one of the most important buildings of its type.

Among the characteristic features of his work are the net vaulting, clematis motifs in the roundels, sculptural supporting columns and hanging bolts. Parléř also changed the plan scheme of chapel construction from triangular to squarewhich is clearly visible in the plan of the chapels where he built on the unfinished parts of the Master Matthias of Arras.

"By the time of his death, Parléř had managed to build the rest of the choir chapels, create the triforium and vault the choir. He had begun to build the transept and the cathedral tower, but unfortunately he did not finish them. After his death, the construction of the cathedral stopped for a long time," Jungmannová adds.

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