Visible to all from a considerable distance, the massive rectangular Great Tower dominates the castle of Karlštejn. Covering an area 25 x 17 metres, its walls have an average thickness of 4metres, even up to 6metres on the North wall. The main area within this tower, and indeed the entire castle, is the Chapel of the Holy Cross.
Karlštejn has four chapels: the Chapel of St. Nicholas, the Church of Our Lady, the Chapel of St. Catherine and the Chapel of the Holy Cross (formerly the Suffering). It is the latter of these which rightly belongs among the architectural jewels of the world.
In building the tower an encrustation of semi-precious stones and gold stucco was used. Semi-precious stones are incorporated in the shape of crosses. The arches are topped with gothic panel paintings of world renown, mostly by Master Theodoric. This unique collection of 129 paintings depicts the “Entire Army of Heaven”, idealised or approximate likenesses of saints, popes, bishops, knights of the Theban League, holy rulers and religious teachers. These works were proposed and, in the majority of cases, painted by Master Theodoric, the “court artist” of Charles IV.
There are fifty-two of these saints in all and a short biography is given for each one. Visitors will therefore learn that many of their names still have significant presence in our time, for example Anna, Anežka, Hedvika, Helena, Klára, Kateřina, Ludmila, Markéta, Antonín, Augustin, Eduard, Filip, Jindřich, Jakub, Jan, Karel, Ludvík, Lukáš, Matouš, Ondřej, Pavel, Petr, Štěpán, Tomáš, Václav, Vojtěch, Vít and others.
The decoration of the chapel is completed by wall paintings. The vaulted ceiling is gilded and covered with pieces of Venetian glass, creating the illusion of a star-spangled heaven. In the alcove above the altar, beneath the triptych by the Italian artist Tomasso da Modena, the Crown Jewels of the Czech and Roman empires were once kept. Among these were relics of Christ’s suffering, hence the original title of the Chapel of the Suffering.
The other chapels, in brief: the Church of Our Lady is situated on the first floor of the Marian Tower. The walls of the church are decorated with scenes of the Apocalypse, scenes from the life of the Virgin Mary and Jesus Christ and so-called relic-scenes, some of which date from before 1357 and are believed to be the work of the otherwise unknown artist referred to as the Master of Genealogy and Mikuláš Wurmser.
The Chapel of St. Catherine, as it was named much later by Václav Hájek of Libočany, is situated in the south wall of the Marian Tower and served as a private oratory for Charles IV. This deeply contemplative place was, like the Chapel of the Holy Cross, originally decorated with polished semi-precious stones.
A visit to the Chapel of the Holy Cross is the high-light of the so-called 2nd Tour of Karlštejn. Not long ago the chapel underwent restoration and building repair. The work took a total of 18 years.
Source: karlstejn.cz, praha.eu, Hrady a zámky (Castles and Mansions) and others
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