Court ruled St.Vitus Cathedral belongs to Catholic Church, not to state

A district court in Prague ruled that the St.Vitus Cathedral at Prague Castle belongs to the Catholic Church, a Czech news agency reported Tuesday. The news agency CTK said that the court ruled Tuesday the Gothic cathedral and the adjacent buildings belong to the church because the church had never lost its rights to them.

The Catholic Church administered the cathedral, which dates to the 14th century, for over 600 years until 1954, when the country's communist government transferred the cathedral to the administration of Prague Castle. The transfer, however, was not properly registered.

A dispute between the church and the Czech state started some 13 years ago, when the church demanded that it be registered as the cathedral's owner.

A court ruling assigned the cathedral to the church in 1994, but an appeals court overturned that verdict. A higher court then ordered a new trial, according to the AP.

Milada Sipkova, a lawyer representing the state, immediately appealed the verdict Tuesday, CTK said.

T.E.