Prague Castle – Chapel of the Holy Cross (Kaple sv. Kříže)

It rises into the second castle courtyard at the middle wing. It was built by the architect Anselmo Lurago according to Pacassi’s project in the years 1758 – 1763, during the Theresian reconstruction, and it was re-built in a Classicist style in the middle of the 19^th century. It is decorated by statues of St. Peter and Paul by Emanuel Max from 1854, and further on by wall paintings of Josef Navrátil and Vilém Kandler from the 1850s with themes from the Old and the New Testament. There are statues of angels made by Ignac Frantisek Platzer on the main marble altar made by Josef Lauermann, and a large painting named Crucified made by František Xaver Balko. Also the side altars are decorated by his paintings: St. Vitus, St. Václav, St. Theresa, and St. Francis. By the entrance, there is a marble statue of St. John of Nepomuk made by Emanuel Max.

The Holy Cross Chapel is also called the Treasury, because in the early 1960s, it was adapted to hold the exhibition of the most precious relics from the St. Vitus Treasury, which was on display here from 1961 to 1990. This fixed exhibition has been open to public again on the 16^th December 2011, for a period of 10 years, until 2021.

Prague Castle has been a National Cultural Monument since 1962.