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During the reign of Charles IV (king of Bohemia from 1346, emperor 1355--78) Prague was effectively a fixed capital of the German Empire. The foundation stone for the St. Vitus's Cathedral was laid in 1344. The first architect was Mathieu d'Arras (1290-1352) who designed the ground plan for the choir and built part of the ambulatory and the radiating chapels. After his death the young Peter Parler (1330-1399) introduced truly modern architecture into the construction.
A decidedly modern motif is visible on the external pier buttresses between the chapels of the ambulatory, where each pinnacle pierces the off-set so that its finial seems to emerge above.
The photo shows the pinnacle breaking through off-set.
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