Prague, Czech Republic, Apr 2, 2007 / 08:52 am
The Czech government and the Catholic Church have reached an agreement on joint administration of the Cathedral of St. Vito in Prague, which was expropriated by the Communist regime in 1954.
The agreement, which was made public by Jiri Weigl, Chancellor of the Castle of Prague, where the Czech government is headquartered, puts an end to a complicated dispute over “this symbol of Czech Catholicism,” expropriated by the Communist regime and which the courts refused to return to the Church.
Weigl said that a definitive ruling by an appeals court in favor of the Church, which said the State was obliged to return the building last June, was recently overturned by the Supreme Court. Nevertheless, the Cathedral will be handed over by the State on April 16, and as of April 5 visitors will no longer be charged to enter.
“This will allow the State and the Church to jointly administer the symbolic church of gothic architecture,” the Chancellor said.
The construction of the Cathedral of St. Vito began in 1344 and was finished in 1929.