Page:The Story of Prague (1920).djvu/177

 Romanesque style. The new church was destroyed during the frequent civic tumults of Prague. Shortly after the foundation of the Archbishopric of Prague and during the reign of King John, it was decided to build a new cathedral on the Hradcany Hill. Charles, through whose influence the impecunious King John had given his consent to the building, took the greatest interest in it, both during the lifetime of his father and after he had succeeded him as King. As architect he chose Matthew of Arras, whom he had met during one of his visits to Avignon. After some years, the building was continued by Peter Parler and his son John. The records of the cathedral tell us that in 1418 Master Peter, generally known as Petrlik, was architect. The great buildings erected in the Gothic style, which by this time was generally adopted in Bohemia, progressed very slowly. The Hussite troubles caused a complete interruption of the work. During the reign of Vladislav II. attempts were made to continue the building, and it is probably rightly conjectured that the King entrusted this task also to his favourite architect, Benes of Loun. The Thirty Years’ War again stopped all endeavours to finish the building of the cathedral, and in the following century the bombardment by Frederick the Great greatly damaged the cathedral.

Within recent years patriotic efforts have been made to finish at last this building, of which every Bohemian, independently of his religious views and his political opinions, is necessarily proud. A society was formed for this purpose in 1859, and the restoration and rebuilding has, it must be admitted, very slowly proceeded ever since that date. The work was at first entrusted to the architect, Joseph Mocker, who had very successfully restored the bridge towers and the powder-tower at Prague. Since his death (in 1899) the work has 151