Ariella

St Vitus Cathedral is the most obvious building in the Castle site. You can see it along River Vltava. It is based on an early romanesque rotunda founded by Wenceslaus in 925. Archbishop Arnost of Pardubice, and, Charles IV, King of Bohemia and a soon-to-be Holy Roman Emperor found the present Gothic building in 1344 and was completed in 1929. The following pictures may contain tombs so look away if you are scared.

聖維拉斯教堂是城堡裡最顯目的建築，從Vltava河就看得到。它原本是在925年Wenceslaus下令建造的古羅馬圓形大廳，後來大主教Arnost of Pardubice和查理斯四世﹝波希米亞王，之後成為羅馬帝國聖國王﹞在1344年下另加蓋哥德式部分，但是到1929年才完工。接下來有一些照片是墳墓，如果你害怕就轉台吧。

Several tour groups arrived when I was looking for the ticket office. As I stepped into Court III, this gigantic building stood right in front of me and everybody exclaimed when they saw it. 很多旅行團在我找售票處時抵達，當我走到第三庭院時，這一棟巨大建築物聳立在我眼前，大家都不禁驚嘆了起來。 This Rose Window portrays creation was designed in early 20th century. 
這塊玫瑰型玻璃敘述造物，是20世紀初的設計。 

I could appreciate the beauty of the Rose Window better indoor. 
我覺得室內看玫瑰型窗戶上的彩繪更美。  
Unfortunately the ticket I had just bought did not include entry into this cathedral, I had to go to the Cathedral ticket office then. The sales greeted me with "Konichiwa", I replied "Konichiwa Dobryden, please give me an English guidebook." Claired and Morag complained that they were mistaken as Germans, possibly because Morag was blond. Coincidentally they both spoke German so the waiter chatted with them in German all the time. I expected that I would be mistaken as a Japanese and I was right!

沒想到剛剛買的門票竟然沒有包括這一座教堂，我只好去教堂售票處買票，售票員看到我就說空你基娃，我回答：『空你基娃Dobryden，請給我英文說明書。』前天Claire與Morag抱怨被誤認為德國人，大概因為Morag是金髮碧眼，湊巧的是她們都會說德文，所以服務生ㄧ直用德文和他們聊天。我還和他們說我八成會被誤會成日本人，果然給我料中。
 
I have always loved to see Gothic Cathedrals. This is a far view of the Rose Window.
我很喜歡欣賞哥德式大教堂，這是玫瑰式窗戶的遠程照。

Stained glass at the choir. 合唱團處的彩繪玻璃
 
Altar and the miniature Cathedral. 祭壇與教堂縮影模型。
 
St. Wenceslas's Chapel is the cult centre of St. Vitus's Cathedral with the tomb of the most important provincial patron saint. The facing of the walls, consisting of precious stones, and the wall paintings of the Passion cycle are parts of the original 14th-century decoration of the chapel. 
聖Wenceslas禮拜堂是教堂膜拜的中心，有最重要的保護聖徒的墳墓。牆上皆是珍貴的寶石，14世紀的壁畫說明了耶穌受難記。

 
Marble work. 大理石雕像。
 
I loved this flying crew of angels made of silver and gold. It was the Tomb of St John Nepomuk! How beautiful! Well, it was freezing cold and I could not use a tripod within this cathedral so the photo turned out a little shaky.
我愛死這一組金銀打造的飛行天使，這竟然是聖約翰Nepomuk的墳墓！多麼的美麗？因為冷到凍死人，我又不能在這裡用腳架，所以照片拍出來有一點朦。
 
Look how the angels sing for St John Nepomuk.
看天使如何迎接他。
 
Stained glass windows are very real in this cathedral. They are works by Alfons Mucha, the Czech Art Nouveau painter in the 20th century. 這裡的彩繪玻璃很逼真，是阿豐幕查，捷克Art Nouveau畫家在20世紀的作品。
These modern windows are different from those ancient ones in Köln. 
這些摩登的窗戶和古老的柯隆大教堂又不一樣。


The famous "Last Judgement" Mosaic costs millions for restoration.
著名的『最後審判』花了數百萬整修成原貌

Even the gutters are impressed. 排水管妖怪也被深深地打動了。

The north face of the cathedral seems more Baroque than Gothic. 教堂北面似乎比較巴洛克，而非哥德式。
     
Morag and I decided to return to the castle for night views after the first miss. When I tried to take a picture of this cathedral, I saw a white flag on the right-sided tower in my camera, which I did not see in the day. I looked at the towers with my bare eyes but there was no flag. Then I looked into my camera and saw the flag there still. I asked Morag if she could see a flag but she could not. I decided to keep quiet and took this picture at a certain angle so the flag did not appear on the screen. How scary!!
Morag和我決定在錯過城堡夜遊後重返城堡，當我試著在拍這一張照片時，我從相機上看到右邊的尖塔上有ㄧ面白旗，但是我在白天並沒看到。我再用肉眼看，卻看不到旗幟。然後我再用相機看，白旗還是在飄揚。我問Morag有沒有看到白旗，她說看不到。我決定不談，把相機調整到一個角度看不到白旗再拍。好恐怖喔！
 
Night view of the North Face. 北面夜景。
 
Night View of the Western Wall. 西面夜景。