St. Stephen's Cathedral

Litoměřice, Czech Republic

The St. Stephen's Cathedral is one of the most important cultural sites in the city. It is protected as a cultural monument of the Czech Republic.

Located on a hill in the place of an older church (originally a basilica) The temple was built in Romanesque style in 1057 and rebuilt in the 14th century in the Gothic style. In the presbytery is a large altar dedicated to St. Stephen, patron of the cathedral.

In the years 1662 to 1663 the original building was destroyed and in the years 1663-70 present cathedral was erected. The cathedral was consecrated in 1681. Today's cathedral tower replaced wooden baroque belfry in the years 1883-89.

There have been various modifications and repairs especially in 1716, 1778, 1825 and 1892.

References:

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Address

Máchova 16, Litoměřice, Czech Republic
See all sites in Litoměřice

Details

Founded: 1663
Category: Religious sites in Czech Republic

More Information

www.czech.cz
en.wikipedia.org

Rating

4.6/5 (based on Google user reviews)

Interesting Sites Nearby


Theresienstadt Concentration Camp (3,3 km)


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Historic Centre of Prague (53,7 km)
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Church of Our Lady before Týn (53,6 km)
Prague Castle (52,8 km)
St. Vitus Cathedral (52,7 km)
Charles Bridge (53,5 km)
All Saints Church (52,8 km)
St. George's Basilica (52,7 km)

User Reviews

Vlastimil Polak (2 years ago)
It’s a really nice and calm place with a historical spirit
christian verzè (2 years ago)
Wonderful church in a wonderful square in a typical bohemian Baroc style
Mario Falzon (3 years ago)
Litomerice boasts two historical quarters. Mirove namesti, surrounded by colourful burghers’ houses is the centre of leisure activity. Lined on its south edge with parasol-shaded outdoor spaces set up by restaurant owners as a means of supplementing their indoor capacity, it is perhaps the only place in Litomerice where one can while the time away in leisurely pursuits. Cut off from the rest of the city and perched high on a hill top is the city’s second historical quarter. Unlike Mirove namesti, this is a people-less place of quietness and seclusion, a vast green square where the sole twin points of attraction are the massive Cathedral of St Stephen and its lofty freestanding bell tower. Known as Domsky Pahorek, this parkland of trees and turf is located on the isolated southwest periphery of the city centre, overlooking the River Elbe. The cathedral, intricately balanced on one corner of this grassy slope is a redesigned 17th-century version of an older original. This vast baroque structure and the additional complementary stonework ornaments on its exterior are both impressive. But go inside and you are faced with an austere gloomy space that instantaneously disappoints. The only relief is the set of chiaroscuro altarpieces from the school of Cranach the Elder. The imposing bell tower (opening times for visitors are the same as for the cathedral), constructed two centuries later stands some 10m away. Climb up the tower for a spectacular view over the city of Litomerice and the hillside area to the north. A sloping cobbled alleyway runs down along the north side of the cathedral (from here, the side views of the cathedral are superb) to the bottom of Domsky Pahorek. One of the modest houses you run into on the way is the former residence of the Czech poet Karel Hynek Macha. The flight of steps at the foot of the hill, aptly named Machovy Schody, connects to Mirove namesti.
Kelvin Eagleton (3 years ago)
We only climbed the tower to see the city. It was an easy walk up stairs (202 steps). Views are good at 3 directions only. Litoměřice and surrounding area is very nice city from up here.
Pavel Bílek (4 years ago)
Za to kilo to stojí ;)
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Quimper Cathedral

From 1239, Raynaud, the Bishop of Quimper, decided on the building of a new chancel destined to replace that of the Romanesque era. He therefore started, in the far west, the construction of a great Gothic cathedral which would inspire cathedral reconstructions in the Ile de France and would in turn become a place of experimentation from where would later appear ideas adopted by the whole of lower Brittany. The date of 1239 marks the Bishop’s decision and does not imply an immediate start to construction. Observation of the pillar profiles, their bases, the canopies, the fitting of the ribbed vaults of the ambulatory or the alignment of the bays leads us to believe, however, that the construction was spread out over time.

The four circular pillars mark the start of the building site, but the four following adopt a lozenge-shaped layout which could indicate a change of project manager. The clumsiness of the vaulted archways of the north ambulatory, the start of the ribbed vaults at the height of the south ambulatory or the choice of the vaults descending in spoke-form from the semi-circle which allows the connection of the axis chapel to the choir – despite the manifest problems of alignment – conveys the hesitancy and diverse influences in the first phase of works which spread out until the start of the 14th century.

At the same time as this facade was built (to which were added the north and south gates) the building of the nave started in the east and would finish by 1460. The nave is made up of six bays with one at the level of the facade towers and flanked by double aisles – one wide and one narrow (split into side chapels) – in an extension of the choir arrangements.

The choir presents four right-hand bays with ambulatory and side chapels. It is extended towards the east of 3-sided chevet which opens onto a semi-circle composed of five chapels and an apsidal chapel of two bays and a flat chevet consecrated to Our Lady.

The three-level elevation with arches, triforium and galleries seems more uniform and expresses anglo-Norman influence in the thickness of the walls (Norman passageway at the gallery level) or the decorative style (heavy mouldings, decorative frieze under the triforium). This building site would have to have been overseen in one shot. Undoubtedly interrupted by the war of Succession (1341-1364) it draws to a close with the building of the lierne vaults (1410) and the fitting of stained-glass windows. Bishop Bertrand de Rosmadec and Duke Jean V, whose coat of arms would decorate these vaults, finished the chancel before starting on the building of the facade and the nave.

Isolated from its environment in the 19th century, the cathedral was – on the contrary – originally very linked to its surroundings. Its site and the orientation of the facade determined traffic flow in the town. Its positioning close to the south walls resulted in particuliarities such as the transfer of the side gates on to the north and south facades of the towers: the southern portal of Saint Catherine served the bishop’s gate and the hospital located on the left bank (the current Préfecture) and the north gate was the baptismal porch – a true parish porch with its benches and alcoves for the Apostles’ statues turned towards the town, completed by an ossuary (1514).

The west porch finds its natural place between the two towers. The entire aesthetic of these three gates springs from the Flamboyant era: trefoil, curly kale, finials, large gables which cut into the mouldings and balustrades. Pinnacles and recesses embellish the buttresses whilst an entire bestiary appears: monsters, dogs, mysterious figures, gargoyles, and with them a whole imaginary world promoting a religious and political programme. Even though most of the saints statues have disappeared an armorial survives which makes the doors of the cathedral one of the most beautiful heraldic pages imaginable: ducal ermine, the Montfort lion, Duchess Jeanne of France’s coat of arms side by side with the arms of the Cornouaille barons with their helmets and crests. One can imagine the impact of this sculpted decor with the colour and gilding which originally completed it.

At the start of the 16th century the construction of the spires was being prepared when building was interrupted, undoubtedly for financial reasons. Small conical roofs were therefore placed on top of the towers. The following centuries were essentially devoted to putting furnishings in place (funeral monuments, altars, statues, organs, pulpit). Note the fire which destroyed the spire of the transept cross in 1620 as well as the ransacking of the cathedral in 1793 when nearly all the furnishings disappeared in a « bonfire of the saints ».

The 19th century would therefore inherit an almost finished but mutilated building and would devote itself to its renovation according to the tastes and theories of the day.

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