Photos

Actually, a few years ago I have moved to a village, but Hradec Kralove is still a town of my heart.

The picture of Holy Spirit Cathedral and the White tower was taken on beautiful yesterday afternoon.

The shot is stitched from two photos.

The gothic brick building of the Church of the Holy Spirit ranks among the major historic sights of the town. It was established by Queen Eliška Rejčka in 1307. In 1424, Jan Žižka of Trocnov, major military leader of the Hussite movement, was temporarily buried here. When the diocese was established in 1664, the church became a cathedral. Between 1864 and 1874 the church got its neogothic appearance. The towers were renovated in 1901.

The cathedral is fifty-six meters long and thirty-three meters high. On the central bolt of the organ loft there is the oldest depiction of the city’s coat of arms from 1463. A late gothic triptych from 1494 is placed on the neogothic altar. The tin baptismal font from 1406 is also of great value. The relief of four Evangelists on the sand stone pulpit is an early work of a renowned Czech sculptor J. V. Myslbek.

The renaissance bell tower, completed in 1589, used to serve as the city’s fire tower and watchtower. Its name is related to the material used - white stone.
The Augustin bell in the tower is the second biggest bell in Bohemia only after the Zikmund bell in Prague. It was cast already in 1509 by Ondřej Žáček, a bell founder from Hradec Králové and before it was installed in the bell tower, it had been hanged on a wooden stand at St. Kliment’s Church near the foundations of the tower. It weighs ten tonnes and has more than two meters in diameter. On special occasions and fairs, more than eight men had to ring the bell.

The original astronomical clock by clockmaker Vavřinec from 1591 was replaced by Josef Božek’s device by from 1829. The modern electrical device held on to the unusual system of timekeeping where the longer minute hand shows hours and shorter hour hand minutes. The tower is 71.5 metres high.