St. Barbara's Church

St. Barbara's Church is one of the great Gothic buildings of Central Europe, begun in 1388 and not completed until the early 16th century — a 130-year project that outlasted the medieval silver boom that financed it. The exterior silhouette is immediately memorable: three enormous tent-shaped flying buttresses rise above the nave, and the south facade is lined with slender Gothic windows that flood the interior with light. The cathedral stands on a promontory above the town, and the terrace in front of it offers a sweeping view over the Bohemian countryside.

Inside, the late Gothic vaulted ceiling by Benedikt Ried is the technical achievement to look for: a web of ribs that seems to float above the nave without visible support, closely related to his work in Prague's Old Royal Palace. The choir chapels are painted with murals depicting miners, assayers, and coin-minters — scenes from everyday working life given sacred setting. The organ gallery, the choir stalls, and the various Gothic altarpieces reward close attention. The church is open daily; entry fee is modest. A late afternoon visit with the low western light coming through the windows is particularly good.

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A story
St. Barbara is the patron saint of miners, and the church was funded almost entirely by the mining guilds of Kutná Hora — not by the church or the crown. The silver miners who paid for its construction had their wealth celebrated inside: the vaulted ceiling of the Smíšek Chapel is painted with miners working underground, one of the earliest known depictions of actual mining labour in European art. The miners literally wrote themselves into their own cathedral.

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