PARLR, PETR

born 1330, Swbisch Gmnd, Wrttemberg [now in Germany] died July 13, 1399, Prague, Bohemia [now in Czech Republic] best-known member of a famous German family of masons. His works exemplify the tendency toward profuse ornamentation and technical ostentation that are characteristic of late Gothic architecture. At the age of 23 Parlr was called by King Charles IV of Bohemia to Prague to continue the cathedral church of St. Vitus. Seemingly influenced by English late Gothic style, he built complicated vaults with hanging bosses and ribs rising free through space; these vaults were the first real net vaults on the European continent. Parlr was also the first to use an even number of sides for the polygon of a choir (at Kutn Hora, Bohemia, in 1360). His sculptural work and vault innovations greatly influenced subsequent architecture.