Content blog: #2

Compare and contrast the cathedrals of Vienna and Prague.

St. Pitus and St. George are located among the royal palace in Prague. St. George is the perfect example of gothic with it's dark brick, steeples, and gargoyles. While St. Pitus is made of plain stone and probably 1/10th the size of St. George, St. Pitus is what I imagine when I think of an old European church. St. Pitus has a few statues dedicated to saints while St. George is floor to ceiling statues of different saints, with stained glass windows that seemed bigger than the walls of St. Pitus, and complete with each corner of the building fenced off showing different private alters that belonged to only wealthy families.

While St. George and St. Pitus are mixed among a mess of buildings that together make up the palace of Prague, in contrast, St. Stephen's in Vienna was it's own attraction. St. Stephen's is so big you could probably fit both St. George and St. Pitus inside it, and unlike St. Pitus all modesty was thrown out the window when building and decorating St. Stephens (after all the church was a reflection of the power of the Empire instead of religion). While St. Stephens was not the preferred church of the Austrian Emperors, that didn't stop them from investing time and money into the church. When Rudolf wanted the church to reflect the power of the Empire, he had them build one of the tallest steeples of the time. And when Frederick the Third wanted a heavier influence of the church on the people of Vienna, and simply built the church bigger so St. Stephens qualified for it's own bishop.

Overall, while all three of these churches are very different from each other, they all show the same thing. The power and influence of the Empire.