Facts:

• wedding ceremonies lasts around 30 min without holy mass or around 60 min with holy mass

• ceremonies are in English

• at least one of you must be baptised Roman-catholic

• available dates – any day, ceremony can only start at 5.00 p.m.

• capacity of approx. 200 people

About:

St. Vitus’s Cathedral is the largest and the most important church in Prague. Apart from divine services the coronations of Czech kings and queens also took place in it. The remains of provincial patron saints, sovereigns, noblemen and archbishops are interred here.

The cathedral is the third church consecrated to the same saint on the identical site. About the year 925 Prince Vaclav I founded a Romanesque rotunda here which after 1060 was converted into a triple-naved basilica with two steeples. The importance of the cathedral grew especially after the establishment of the Prague bishopric in 973 and the founding of the body of canons – the St. Vitus chapter, which later became an important cultural and administrative institution.

In 1344 Charles IV began the construction of a Gothic cathedral. Its first builders, Matthias of Arras and later Peter Parler, built the choir with a ring of chapels, St. Wenceslas’s Chapel, the Golden Portal and the lower part of the main steeple. In spite of the endeavours of some sovereigns to secure the continuation of the construction work the cathedral remained uncompleted for whole centuries.

It was not until the latter half of the 19th century that the Union for the Completion of the Building of St. Vitus’s Cathedral began the repair of the original part and the completion of the building of the cathedral in Neo-Gothic style. The cathedral was solemnly consecrated in 1929. Its interior was subjected to adaptations even in later years.

Situated in the choir of the cathedral, in front of the high alter, is the royal mausoleum below which, in the crypt, there is the royal tomb. The choir is surrounded by a ring of Gothic chapels. Czech sovereigns and patron saints are interred in some of them.

Virtual tour of St. Vithus church 

Facts:

• wedding ceremonies lasts around 30 min without holy mass or around 60 min with holy mass

• ceremonies are in English

• at least one of you must be baptised Roman-catholic

• available dates – any day, latest at 5.00 p.m.

• capacity of approx. 150 people

About:

The Strahov Monastery (Strahovsky Klaster) started its long itinerary through history with establishment of the Premonstratensians, a religious order of canons founded in 1120 by St Norbert as an independent part of the Catholic church. By the year 1182 a Romanesque stone monastery was built on the place of an older foundation of Prince Vladislav II (from 1140). It’s peace was disturbed by a fire in 1258, when the church was destructed almost totally. A reconstruction in the Gothic style followed, but that was not to last either, as Baroque retouches were added during the beginning of the 18th century. In the meanwhile the abbey was plundered first by the Hussites and during the Thirty Years’ War by a regiment of the Swedish army. The last but not least hit that the abbey had to take was the bombardment of the church’s premises by the French, in 1742. After the Communist regime ended, the abbey was returned to the Premonstratensians in 1989. The Strahov Monastery it is not only an active place of pilgrimage but also a valuable museum and a famous library, still holding an unbelievable number of rare volumes.

Facts:

• wedding ceremonies lasts around 30 min without holy mass or around 60 min with holy mass

• ceremonies are in English

• at least one of you must be baptised Roman-catholic

• available dates – Fri and Sat, 2.00 p.m. and 3.00 p.m. a

• capacity of approx. 150 people

About:

The Basilica of St Peter and St Paul is a neo-Gothic church in Vysehrad fortress in Prague.

Originally founded in 1070-1080 by the Czech King Vratislav II., the Romanesque basilica suffered a fire in the year 1249 and has been rebuilt in Gothic and later in neo-Gothic style. The basilica features an impressive stone mosaic above its entry, and its twin 58 m towers can be seen atop a hill to the south from along the Vltava River in central Prague.

Behind the church is located large park and Vysehrad cemetery, the final resting place of many famous Czechs. In 2003 the church was elevated to basilica by Pope John Paul II.

History is the dominant element thematically of the interior décor; the history of art, Christianity and the Czech lands are all aspects of the decoration. As a piece of art history the church is something of an exhibition of Gothic, art nouveau and even Baroque pieces.

Facts:

• wedding ceremonies lasts around 30 min without holy mass or around 60 min with holy mass

• ceremonies are in English

• at least one of you must be baptised Roman-catholic

• available dates – any day, latest at 5.00 p.m.

• capacity of approx. 100 people

About:

St. Thomas church was constructed by the Benedictines along with the chapel of St. Dorothy in 1228. In 1285 when Vaclav II was in power, a new Order called Ordo eremitarum sancti Augustini (Order of St. Augustine’s Hermits) settled in the church on the king’s invitation.

The biggest reconstruction of the monastery area began in 1550 and was completed during the 30-year war. In the Rudolfine age, the monastery became an important spiritual centre for all catholic members of the empire. During the 18th century, the church and the convent gained the appearance they have today. A remarkable architecture complex was built encompassing three constructional stages in a quite organic way: Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque.

As was the case with other monasteries in 1950, even the friars of St. Thomas were forced to end their monastery lives. They were evicted and the convent was turned into a retirement home. The revitalization in the 70s was only aimed at the church. After 1990, the last large repair was done including a replacement of the truss, which was infected by the woodworms.

Read the story:

Petra and Julien – blogstorypetra-and-julien/

Virtual tour from the St. Thomas Church