Prague Castle

Prague Castle is the largest medieval complex in Europe.

 St. Vitus Cathedral is the centerpiece. 
The lower buildings are the castle city complex.
The two small spires to the right belong to St. George's Basilica.

The entrance to the castle contains three courtyards.
Seen here are the offices of the President of the Czech Republic (currently Vaclav Klaus).

Two titans guard the entrance to the first courtyard. Note the two guard houses below.

The guard's uniforms were designed by the same person who designed costumes for "Amadeus," which was filmed in Prague.

First inner courtyard.
Note cage in distant background.

Rumor has it that criminals were placed in this cage for public taunting.

St. Vitus Cathedral rose window.

This cathedral took 1000 years to build from 929 - 1929.

Detail above one of the entrances to St. Vitus Cathedral.

One of three main entrances to St. Vitus.

Above the alter, this is called the "choir" in St. Vitus Cathedral.

The walls of St. Wenceslas Chapel are covered in precious jewels and fine art.

The tomb of St. Jan Nepomuk is made of silver, which was for a while more precious than gold.

There are always five stars above the head of St. Nepomuk.
He was thrown over the Charles Bridge and drowned in the Vltava River.
Then five stars appeared over the place where he drowned, and the people who killed him realized that they had mistakenly murdered a saint.

Many cultures honor the metaphorical legend of St. George (Svaty Jiri) slaying the dragon.

This statue is in the inner courtyard next to St. Vitus Cathedral.

The obelisk in the background was constructed by the builder who finally completed St. Vitus Cathedral in 1929.

Close up of the dragon.

St. George and the dragon.

Basilica of St. George (behind St. Vitus Cathedral)

Detail above side door to St. George's Basilica

Side door of St. Vitus.

Note gold decorations.

Golden zodiac signs decorate the side doors of St. Vitus.

Tulips grow along the side of St. George's Basilica.

Tulips were grown in the Kingdom of Bohemia before they were grown in Holland.

Back of St. Vitus Cathedral

Toy Museum on the castle grounds

Tomas Garygue Masaryk

First president of Czechoslovakia, which became a country in 1918.

Castle guards

View of Prague from the castle

There is so much more, but these are some of the highlights.

Jeannette