Ten centuries of European architecture & heritage
These impressive formal gardens form part of the palace complex designed for Count Albrecht of Wallenstein by the architectural triumvirate of Giovanni Pieroni, Andrea Spezza and Nicolo Sebregondi. Covering four-and-a-half acres — nearly two hectares...
The Chapel of the Holy Family, adjacent to the Nusle Steps, was built in 1755 to a commission by Vinohrady councillor Karel Leopold Bepta. A simple square building with a pyramidal roof, it was originally...
Giuseppe Rangheri was born in Gora, on the shores of Lake Como, and came to Prague in the late 1700s when there was already a thriving silk market. He set up his original mulberry plantation...
The Vinohradská Vodárna (Vinohrady Water Tower) is a handsome neo-renaissance turret dating from 1882. Its designer was Antonín Turek, a local architect responsible for many noteworthy public buildings, including the National House of Vinohrady and...
One of the earliest surviving domestic residences in the city is the exquisite Dům u kamenného zvonu (House of the Stone Bell) in the Old Town Square. The building’s name derives from the bell carved...
Thirty years before the foundation of the modern Olympic movement, the German-born art historian Miroslav Tyrš revived the ancient ideal of physical and spiritual improvement in the Czech lands. His brainchild, the Sokol (‘Falcon’) organization,...
The south range of the Cathedral of Saint Vitus in Prague Castle is dominated by the so-called Golden Gate (Zlatá Brána). This ceremonial facade, commissioned by Charles IV in 1370, is covered in a priceless...
Saint Wenceslas (Svatý Václav) was a tenth-century duke of Bohemia and patron of the Czech lands. His good deeds, particularly those carried out with his page Podevin, became the subject of a favourite English Christmas...
This magnificent neo-baroque house at the corner of Anglická and Náměstí Míru is by the architect and designer Josef Pospíšil. Although relatively little is known about him, Pospíšil left behind an enormous catalogue of Prague...
Humprecht Jan Černín (Czernin, in the usual German spelling) came from one of Bohemia’s wealthiest families, their fortunes enriched still further by the Catholic victory in the Thirty Years’ War. His great-uncle had served at...
