St. Vitus Cathedral, Prague, Czech Republic
St. Vitus cathedral, located within Prague Castle, is one of the landmarks of Prague. It's full name is St. Vitus, St. Wenceslas and St. Adalbert cathedral. The present day Gothic Cathedral is the third church which has stood upon the same spot. Building was started in 1344, when the Prague bishopric was raised to an archbishopric.
The building of the cathedral stopped in the first half of the 15th century because of the Hussite War and did not start again until 1844! It took until 1929, almost 600 year after the building was started to complete the cathedral! The entire western half of the church is neo-Gothic.
The most special place in the cathedral may be the chapel of St. Wenceslas, where the relics of this saint are kept. The lower parts of the walls are decorated with precious stones and 14th century paintings about the passion of Christ. The upper part of the walls are decorated with 16th century paintings about the life of St. Wenceslas.
The famous stained glass window made by the Czech Art Nouveau painter Alfons Mucha.
The Golden Gate, the south entrance to the cathedral, is decorated with a 14th century colourfull mosaic of the Last Judgment (bottom-right corner of the picture)
