Cathedral of St. Bartholomew Pilsen
The church tower of the Cathedral of St. Bartholomew is dominated not only by Náměstí Republiky, where the building can be found, but undoubtedly also the whole of Pilsen. The tower with a total height of 102.6 m is the tallest church tower in the Czech Republic. The temple is as old as the city itself. It was founded together with him sometime around 1295. After the diocese was established in Pilsen in 1993, the parish church of St. Bartholomew was promoted to a cathedral and in 1995 included in the list of national cultural monuments.
Information for visitors
Interesting facts Cathedral of St. Bartholomew Pilsen
The oldest part of the church is the presbytery, which was slightly smaller than the current one, but even the presbytery from today appears much smaller compared to the cathedral, which is caused by the original plans for the construction of the church, which was originally supposed to be more sober. Furthermore, the construction continued with a two - tower facade.
Even before the outbreak of the Hussite wars, the walls of the church stood and the towers did not reach even above the main ledge. The church served its purpose before its completion, mainly due to the temporary vaulting of the ceilings. Further construction work continued after the Hussite riots. The circular columns bear a net vault, a new roof with a truss was built, a tent roof with a turret, which almost reached the height of the northern church tower. The construction of the second, south tower, never took place.
The pearl of the Cathedral of St. Bartholomew is undoubtedly the Sternberg Chapel, adjacent to the presbytery from the south, which was built by the Sternbergs as a funeral chapel for their family.
In 1528, the overhaul of the church was completed after it was destroyed by fire together with the town in 1507. During this repair, the original tent roof was not restored, but was replaced by roofs that we know from the present day.
The cathedral was not repaired for centuries, which of course left the consequences in the form of a ruined eastern gable, damaged vaults in the Sternberg chapel, etc. Repairs in the 19th century was undertaken by Josef Mocker, who got rid of everything that did not contain Gothic elements, such as Baroque altars and renaissance gables. After him, Kamil Hilbert took over the work and the last modification was carried out by the architect Šantavý in 1987. In 1995, when the city of Pilsen celebrated 700 years since its foundation, the work was completed.
One of the most valuable monuments in the church is the love statue of the Virgin Mary or the Madonna of Pilsen, which can be found in the niche of the main altar. It is a "beautiful Madonna", a work from the second half of the 14th century, which is one of the most valuable monuments of Czech Gothic.
Author: Andrea Štyndlová