Czech patron saint Wenceslas, Duke of Bohemia, kneels in boyhood to pray with his grandmother, St Ludmila. Stained glass created in 1930 by Art Nouveau and Art Deco artist, Alphonse or Alfons Maria Mucha (1860-1939), in St Vitus Cathedral in Prague, Czechia / Czech Republic.
Prague, Czechia / Czech Republic: Czech patron saint Wenceslas, Duke of Bohemia, seen here as a boy, kneels in prayer with his grandmother, St Ludmila, in central panels of the vivid stained glass designed in 1930 by influential Art Nouveau and Art Deco artist Alphonse Mucha for the New Archbishop’s Chapel in the Cathedral of St Vitus. Alphonse or Alfons Maria Mucha (1860-1939) was a prolific painter, illustrator and graphic artist. He lived in Paris during the Art Nouveau period, producing illustrations, advertisements, decorative panels and designs. After returning to his homeland aged 43, Mucha devoted himself to painting his masterpiece, The Slav Epic, 20 monumental canvases depicting the history of the Slavic people. The complete window, installed in 1931, is an allegory of Christ blessing the Slavic nations. It includes ‘Slavia’, a female embodiment of the Slavic people, and the panels surrounding St Wenceslaus and St Ludmila depict scenes from the lives of Cyril and Methodius, missionary brothers sent by a Byzantine emperor to the Slavs of the Moravian region in the 9th century AD. They encouraged the spread of Christianity and culture by translating books of the Bible into the Old Church Slavonic language understood by ordinary Slavs, and by devising Glagolitic script, a Slavic alphabet used to transcribe them.
Size: 2533px × 3800px
Location: Cathedral of St Vitus, Prague, Czech Republic / Czechia
Photo credit: © Terence Kerr / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
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