Olomouc, St. Wenceslas Catedral

Recent archaeological finds show that the oldest settlement on the site of the historical Olomouc goes back to the period of the arrival of Slavs in our territory at the turn of the 5th and 6th centuries. In the 9th century, the era of Great Moravia, a fortified settlement was established in the middle part of the rocky hill; an armed unit resided there, which shows that the settlement in Olomouc ranks in importance and function with the better-known Slavic settlements in South Moravia - Mikulcice and Stare Mesto-Veligrad. In early 10th century the first Slav state broke up and that was the end of the Olomouc settlement too. But already in the second half of the 10th century the settlement was renewed, with its full economic and perhaps even administrative function. After the annexation of Moravia by the Czech state (under the rule of the Premysl dynasty) in early 11th century, Olomouc became the most important administrative centre and the residence of the Premyslid princes. The castle of Olomouc is first mentioned in Kosmas's Chronicle under the year 1055.
In 1063 the Prague prince Vratislav established a bishopric at St Peter's, the oldest church of the Olomouc castle. Thus Moravia became excluded from the power of the bishopric in Prague. The first Moravian bishop to be appointed in Olomouc was Jan, a Benedictine from the Brevnov monastery. This event probably made the feudal nobility in Olomouc move to the opposite, northern rock hill and build a new castle there. The previous castle in due time was changed into a settlement outside the castle walls. In early l2th century, Prince Svatopluk began the construction of a new church, of St Wenceslas (St Václav, in Czech), in the area of the new castle. His death in 1109 prevented him from finishing the church. His son Václav was also unable to finish the construction; shortly before his death he donated the unfinished church to the Bishop of Olomouc, Jindrich Zdik. Bishop Zdik consecrated the church on June 30, 1131 and when the construction was completed, he transferred his bishopric to the new church (in late 1141) and established there a chapter with twelve canons. North of the cathedral was built a beautiful Romanesque bishop's palace (the so-called Premysl palace), with the seat of the chapter. Twelfth-century sources call this complex of buildings "monasterium St. Venzeslai" (Munster). St Wenceslas Cathedral was a Romanesque basilica with a nave and two aisles, about 60 metres long.
After the (ire of the cathedral in 1265, Bishop Bruno (1245-1281) started its rebuilding in the Gothic style. The western front with two Romanesque prism-shaped towers was left unaltered, but the nave and the aisles were rebuilt into a Gothic-style hall. Its vaulting and large Gothic windows originated, however, in the period of further rebuilding in the l4th century. In the middle of that century was demolished the former Romanesque bishop's palace, which had been converted into a bishop's school (scholasteria) as early as in the first half of the l3th century. On its site were built the cloisters of a Gothic chapter house. In the l5th and l6th centuries, the cloisters were decorated with late Gothic and early Renaissance wall paintings inspired by the Christmas and Easter cycles.
In the second half of the l6th century, Bishop Stanislav II Pavlovsky (1579-1598) had the western front redone in Renaissance style by building the middle large tower. The Renaissance chapel of St Stanislas with a family tomb joined the southern nave. In 1616-18, Bishop and Cardinal Frantisek of Dietrichstejn (1599-1636) built a large Baroque presbytery, 35 by 23 metres, with the vault reaching the height of 27 metres. Under presbytery was built a crypt of the same size of area.
In early l9th century, the front of the cathedral received a Classicist appearance. It remained unchanged until 1883, when Neogothic rebuilding started. In began with the construction of the choir chapel of St Cyril and Methodius on the northern side of the presbytery. After the reconstruction of the whole cathedral, the southern tower, 150 metres high, became a new dominating feature of Olomouc. The rebuilding, supervised by architect Gustav Merretta (and Archbishop and Cardinal Frederic Furstenberk), was finished in 1892.
In 1971-1986, in spite of an unfavourable political situation, a systematic restoration and renewal of the cathedral went on: new wiring and lighting, restoration of the original Neogothic decorations, restoration of the organ and installation of a new organ in the choir (1977). In 1977, new Stations of the Cross were installed (work of academic sculptors Karel Stadnik and Frantisek Radvan), a carillon - a set of 15 bells - was hung in the tower, stained glass was repaired, Baroque paintings restored and a new altar table installed (1981). The exterior was redone as well and the roof was retiled, with the financial assistance of the diocese of Regensburg.

Presbytery
From the Neogothic adaptation originates the high altar, of Carrara marble. On both sides of the tabernacle are situated two and two marble statues of the Eastern Fathers of the Church, purchased for this purpose by Archbishop Furstenberk in Rome. The statues, by Mino da Fiosole, date back to the second half of the l5th century, and come from the Roman basilica S. Maria Maggiore.
The l7th century choir stalls are from the original Baroque furnishings. The statues of St Wenceslas and St Ludmila are Neogothic. The Neogothic statues of twelve apostles come from the period of regothization. The many reliquaries, collected over the centuries, are displayed in showcases in the presbytery and in the chancel.

Chancel
The high altar was adapted in 1974 from older works of art. The neogothic elements were replaced by a late Gothic relief of St Mary the Protectress, set in a wooden frame. The stone relief plaque comes from the front of~ the abolished parish church of Virgin Mary. On either side are late Gothic sculptures of St Peter and Paul, perhaps from the original bishop's church of St Peter's. The stone sculptures were originally situated in a small pseudohistorical chapel on the corner of Domska Street and Wenceslas Square. Now only a plaster copy of the Marian relief is found in the chapel.

Southern tower
On the ground floor of the Neogothic church, originally designed as a baptisterium, was buried Archbishop Frederic Furstenberg. Later several more archbishops were buried there: Cardinal Frantisek Bauer (1904-1915), Cardinal Lev Skrbensky (1916-1920, + 1938): for each of them, a tombstone was made. The last person to be buried here was Bishop, apostolic administrator Josef Vrana (1937-1987).

St Stanislav Chapel
Bishop Stanislav II Pavlovsky built the renaissance chapel with the Pavlovsky family vault in 1582-1591. The interior decoration was destroyed when the church was redone in Baroque style in the 1740s. The wall paintings are the work of the Olomouc painter Jan Krystof Handke. In the entrance portal, the original mannerist bronze lattice has survived; Nurnberger metal workers made it in late l6th century. On either side of the portal were placed, in early l8th century, two tomb- stones: the Renaissance bronze plaque of Bishop Mark Kuen (+ 1565), made in Nurnberg, and the marble figural part of the early Baroque mausoleum of the Olomouc princes of the Premysl dynasty.

Loretta Chapel
The originally Gothic chapel of St Cyril and Methodius was redone in Baroque style at the turn of the l7th and l8th centuries. The name of the chapel is due to the statue of Black Madonna from the Italian Loretta, situated in the chapel.

Crypt
The present appearance of the crypt dates back to 1661. Under its floor was the burial ground, covered with stone slabs bearing various inscriptions. On the western front of the burial chapel was deposited the marble case with the heart of Rudolph Jan, the Archbishop of Olomouc (1819-1831); his body was buried in the family vault of the Habsburgs in the Capuchin convent in Vienna. Since the 1970s, the crypt under the presbytery is used for liturgical purposes and as a display room.

Neighbourhood of the cathedral
Next to the northern part of the cathedral is the so-called Premysl Pa- lace, a national cultural monument. It is now open to the public. It is actually what remains of the l2th century Romanesque palace of the bishop of Olomouc. Besides the Romanesque windows on the upper floor, visitors can see Gothic cloisters with wall paintings from around 1500. In the former chapel of St John the Baptist is now a modern exposition.
Adjoining this area is the chapel of St Anne, of the l4th century, rebuilt in the mannerist style in early l7th century. During the regothization of the cathedral the chapel was shortened, its front wall being moved back by the distance of one vault field.
Westward, along the circumference of the wall of the former castle of the Premyslid princes, are situated the two wings of the Baroque chapter deanery. On the site of this building, the Czech king Wenceslas III was murdered on September 4, 1306; with his death the Premysl dynasty died out in the male line. At the chapter deanery was staying, between 28 October and 23 December 1767, as guest of the chapter dean Leopold Podstatsky- Liechtenstein, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, aged 11, and his father and sister. Here he composed for his host the Sixth Symphony in F-major (see the commemorative plaque made by Julius Pelikan). The 1724 statue of St John of Nepomuk is the work of the local sculptor Jiri Antonin Heinz.