A day in Kutná Hora, part 2

After our lunch, we went off in search of the St Barbara Cathedral - nothing too difficult, as it is quite large, and perched on the side of a great hill. On our way up the hill, we passed the Church of St Jacob (Kostel Sv. Jakuba):


St Jacob's as seen looking back from St Barbara's
As we approached the cathedral, we passed alongside the Jesuit College (Jesuitská Kolej), a massive building flanked on one side by a walkway overlooked by statues.


St Barbara's Cathedral (Chrám Sv. Barbory) is very impressive. Not only is it quite large, but it also has some extant 15th century wall paintings left inside - a lasting reminder of what put the town on the medieval map: the silver trade. Below you can see one area of the painting, where an angel watches over a local moneyer.




St Barbara's at night:

A day in Kutná Hora, part 1

Kutná Hora is a small city to the east of Prague, but of great cultural significance for the entire country. An important source of silver in the middle ages (since around the 10th century), and the site of a Cistercian monestary, the area is now an UNESCO World Heritage Site.

After a brisk walk from the train station and through the stale snow leftover from the generally frigid January weather, we came first to the Chrám Nanebevzetí Panny Marie (Cathedral of the Assumption of Our Lady). It was built between 1280 and 1320 by the Cistercians, and was plundered by the Hussites (Protestant followers of Jan Hus) in 1421 and was badly burned (although it's unclear as to whether or not the Hussites were responsible for the fire, it's more than likely given their military actions in other parts of the country, particularly Prague). It was restored in the early 18th century, allegedly by Czech/Italian architect Jan Blažej Santini-Aichel.


The Cathedral of the Assumption of Our Lady
Not far from this cathedral was the Morový Sloup - the Plague Column, a memorial for the countless victims of the Bubonic Plague that decimated Europe in the 14th century.


The Plague Column
The Plague Column is appropriately situated just outside the walls of a cemetary. Within these walls amongst the headstones is a small Gothic chapel, which houses the famous ossuary (Kostnice), a intriguingly morbid display of human remains. In 1870, a woodcarver named František Rint was commissioned to create the monument from the exhumed skeletons of between 40,000 and 70,000 people - victims both of the Plague and of the Hussite Wars. In the pictures below you can see the coat of arms of the Schwarzenberg family (who employed Rint for the task) and a monstrance, among other things:


The Sedlec Ossuary
Of course seeing all those bones made me powerful hungry, so we went to the nearby pub U Zlatého Lva ("At the Golden Lion") for lunch. If you ever happen upon the Golden Lion, I highly recommend the potato soup and a pint of the local beer, called Dačický.

To be continued...

It's the little things in life...

...like your first conversation in a foreign language with a stranger, brief as it may be, that really inspires confidence in yourself. Sure, I studied French for a while. In the classroom, however, there's no real pressure to get it right; if you don't, someone will correct you and you'll move on.

So I went exploring on my own again today. I was looking for the Augustinerkirche; I found it, however it was closed. So I walked around (again, somewhat aimlesslessly) just making sudden turns down interesting-looking alleys. I've determined that because of the number of very distinctive and rather tall building that pepper the city, it's nearly impossible to get lost: find one or two on the skyline and you can easily figure out how to get back to more familiar territory.

I ended up walking up to the Lindenhof without realising it. The Lindenhof is a lookout point used by the Romans, but unfortunately there's nothing really there now that betrays their presence. Except a small chunk of rock with some text on it, including the (abbreviated) words STATIONIS TVRICENSIS - the place name that eventually turned into Zürich. The view is great; here are some shots of the Limmat, the Grossmünster, and the Predigerkirche, which ended up being my next stop (bear with me). Also, on the Lindenhof there is a large chess board, where I stopped to watch some men play, and another fountain. I don't think I've yet mentioned this, but there are fountains everywhere. Literally. Here's a picture of a pidegeon drinking from one.

So, getting back to the original story above, when I got to the Predigerkirche, I didn't notice any signage indicating whether or not photography was allowed (it wasn't, for example, inside the Fraumünster or the Grossmünster), so I walked over to a nice lady looking like she was keeping an eye on the place. Ever the optimist, I asked her, "Sprechen Sie Englisch?" "Nein." Figures. "..français?" "Ja ja!" Of course you do. Pulling out my camera, "Puis-je utiliser ici?" She smiled, "Oui, bien sûr!" Alors... here are some shots of the very pretty organ, a groin vault, and a portion of the nave. Like St Peters Kirche, it had been completely Baroqued over (can I use Baroqued as a verb?), but there were some small medieval remains, including a bit of rock with an inscription and a fragment of a fresco. I wish there was some sort of literature on these things. I feel very stupid, as a medievalist, to not know exactly what these things are. Hopefully I will find out at a later date.

St Peters Kirche

I took a few pictures of this amazing church, not only of the clockface (the largest around) but also the interior too. Will update this post later with links. It's time for breakfast and more exploration of the city.

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UPDATE: OK, here come some more pictures.
Hier klicken for a shot of the interior, facing the apse.
Hier klicken for a shot of the organ.
Hier klicken for some scrap of medieval wall painting. There wasn't any literature on this that I could find, so I'm not entirely sure what it is.
Hier klicken for a shot of Natasha hanging over the railing outside.
Hier klicken for a nice view from the Grossmünster tower.
Hier klicken for a shot of the tower from the Lindenhof down the Pfalzgasse.