Basic information
St Wenceslas’ Cathedral, with its distinctive twin-tower façade, is an integral part of the city skyline. Standing 100.65 metres tall, the southern tower is the tallest church tower in Moravia and the second tallest in the Czech Republic. The church’s three-aisled hall dates back to its original medieval layout.
The Appanage Prince Svatopluk began the construction of the Cathedral between 1104 and 1107. His son Wenceslas continued the work and entrusted the unfinished building to Olomouc Bishop Jindřich Zdík before his death. The unfinished structure was consecrated in 1131. It was completed in 1141, becoming an episcopal church. The original three-nave Romanesque basilica underwent numerous modifications and reconstructions. The cathedral was completely rebuilt in the Gothic style after a fire in 1265.
The Gothic pillars of the three-nave hall date from the 13th century. A large presbytery measuring 35 × 23 metres was added as part of an early Baroque reconstruction. At the end of the 19th century, it received, along with the entire interior and exterior, its Neo-Gothic appearance. Beneath the presbytery lies a crypt accessible by two side staircases. On the south side of the church, there is an entrance to the Mannerist St Stanislaus’ Chapel, with tombstones from the 16th and 17th centuries positioned on either side. A shrine containing the relics of St Jan Sarkander, canonized by Pope John Paul II in 1995, is placed at a Neo-Gothic altar beside one of the pillars. The cathedral’s organ is one of the finest instruments of the Romantic period in the Czech Republic.