|
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.
On the outside, a complete subversion of convention can be found in the porch of the south portal, built 1367-68. The portal arcade is formed by a richly profiled round arch with baldachins to cover sculpture. But this arcade appears to be half-hidden by free-floating ribs which have no bosses and meet on a projecting trumeau.
The photo shows the south porch.
| 