Devil's Column (Czech: Čertův sloup) is a formation of three stone columns, located in
Vyšehrad
Vyšehrad ( Czech for "upper castle") is a historic fort in Prague, Czech Republic, just over 3 km southeast of Prague Castle, on the east bank of the Vltava River. It was probably built in the 10th century. Inside the fort are the Basil ...
,
Prague
Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and List of cities in the Czech Republic, largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 milli ...
, Czech Republic.
For the first time, it was mentioned in the book ''Bellum hussiticum'' as fragments of one column, standing on the cemetery of the St. John Baptist Decapitation church in Vyšehrad. According to the story of about 1700, one priest made a bet with the devil, that he would celebrate Mass before the devil brings a column from the St. Peter's basilica in Rome. The devil lost and, out of anger, he threw the column from a height to the ground. According to geologists the column is cut of
granodiorite
Granodiorite () is a coarse-grained ( phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock similar to granite, but containing more plagioclase feldspar than orthoclase feldspar.
The term banatite is sometimes used informally for various rocks ranging from gr ...
and it originates from a central Bohemian quarries in surroundings of
Sázava.
References
External links
*
Buildings and structures in Prague
{{Czech-stub