Hradcany - The Rough Guide to Prague - page 66

Chapel of sv Václav
Of the cathedral's 22 side chapels, the grand Chapel of sv Václav , by the south door, is
easily the main attraction. Although officially dedicated to St Vitus, spiritually the cathedral
belongs as much to the Přemyslid prince Václav, or Wenceslas, of “Good King” fame , the
country's patron saint, who was killed by his pagan brother, Boleslav the Cruel. Ten years
later, in 939, Boleslav repented, converted and apparently transferred his brother's remains
to this very spot. Charles, who was keen to promote the cult of Wenceslas in order to cement
his own Luxembourgeois dynasty's rather tenuous claim to the Bohemian throne, had Peter
Parler build the present chapel on top of the original grave; the lion's head door-ring set into
the north door is said to be the one to which Václav clung before being killed. The chapel's
rich, almost Byzantine, decoration is like the inside of a jewel casket: the gilded walls are
inlaid with approximately 1372 semiprecious Bohemian stones (corresponding to the year of
its creation and symbolizing the New Jerusalem from the Book of Revelation), set around
ethereal fourteenth-century frescoesofthePassion;meanwhile, thetragedyofWenceslas un-
folds above the cornice in the later paintings of the Litoměřice school, dating from 1509.
ThoughadazzlingtestamenttothegoldenageofCharlesIV'sreign,it'snotjustthechapel's
artisticmeritthatdrawsvisitors.Adoorinthesouthwallgivesaccesstoastaircaseleadingto
the coronation chamber (very rarely open to the public), which houses the Bohemiancrown
jewels ,including the gold crown ofSt Wenceslas, studded with some ofthe largest sapphires
intheworld.Closedtothepublicsince1867,thedoorissecuredbysevendifferentlocks,the
keys kept by seven different people, starting with the president himself - like the seven seals
of the holy scroll from Revelation. The tight security is partly to prevent any pretenders to
the throne trying on the headgear, an allegedly fatal act: the Nazi Reichsprotektor Reinhard
Heydrichtriedit,onlytosuffertheinevitableconsequences.Replicasofthecrownjewelsare
on display in the Old Royal Palace .