Tomb chest with painted lid
Type:
Churches,
Grave markers,
Monasteries,
Tombs
Date:
1379 (tomb chest),
1440 (restoration of house-shaped lid)
Location or Findspot (Modern-Day Country):
Czech Republic
Dimensions:
over 2 m long
Description:
Duke Vratislav I (888–921), the father of the future saint Wenceslas, founded the oldest church in the Prague castle. Dedicated to St. George, it was to serve as the mausoleum of the Přemyslid dynasty (ca. 880–1306). After Wenceslas built a rotunda to house the relics of St. Vitus and Wenceslas himself was interred there, however, that church (later the site of Prague Cathedral) became the preferred dynastic burial site. In 973 St. George became the church of a Benedictine nunnery.
The church of St. George still contains the tomb of Vratislav I. His remains are inside a lead box inside a stone tomb chest whose slabs are joined by iron clamps. The lead box was impressed with a wax seal that belonged to the abbess of St. George who ruled from 1378 to 1386; an incised inscription gives a more precise date of 1379 for the placement of the bones in the chest. The house-shaped wooden lid was restored around 1440. It bears painted coats of arms and figural imagery on its sides and roof. The Latin inscription on one gabled end says, "Here lies blessed Vlatislav, founder of this church," and he is shown, haloed, holding the basilica. On the other end is the abbess Mlada, granddaughter of Vratislav, who founded the nunnery and was supposedly given her crosier (pastoral staff) by Pope John XII himself.
The church of St. George still contains the tomb of Vratislav I. His remains are inside a lead box inside a stone tomb chest whose slabs are joined by iron clamps. The lead box was impressed with a wax seal that belonged to the abbess of St. George who ruled from 1378 to 1386; an incised inscription gives a more precise date of 1379 for the placement of the bones in the chest. The house-shaped wooden lid was restored around 1440. It bears painted coats of arms and figural imagery on its sides and roof. The Latin inscription on one gabled end says, "Here lies blessed Vlatislav, founder of this church," and he is shown, haloed, holding the basilica. On the other end is the abbess Mlada, granddaughter of Vratislav, who founded the nunnery and was supposedly given her crosier (pastoral staff) by Pope John XII himself.
Relevant Textbook Chapter(s):
10
Image Credits:
Linda Safran
