an illustrated guide to Czech architecture and heritage
This full-height bronze of the illustrious poet Karel Hynek Mácha was begun in 1910 (the centenary of his birth) and placed on Petřin Hill, not far from the writer’s birthplace on Újezd street, two years later. In the...
In 1883 the publisher František Topič opened his first bookshop here on Národní třída (National Avenue). From its central location opposite the National Theatre, Topič was able to exert great influence as a promoter of graphic design, and...
In 1791 a vast outdoor exhibition took place in Prague to mark the coronation (as King of Bohemia) of the Holy Roman Emperor Leopold II. The celebrations included the first performance of Mozart’s penultimate opera, La Clemenza di...
In September 1424, the radical Hussite warrior Jan Žižka (who four years earlier had won a significant victory against the Holy Roman Emperor Sigismund at Vitkov Hill) signed a treaty of reconciliation with the moderate Utraquists which temporarily...
Originally the headquarters of the First Czech General Reinsurance Bank, this handsome art nouveau building close to the National Theatre was constructed in 1904-5 to a plan by the architect Jiří Stibral. Additional features of the facade, gables...
A mere thirty years after the arrival of the first railways in Prague, the urgent need for expansion resulted in the demolition of the original neo-renaissance Franz Josef station. Its replacement – built between 1901 and 1909 to...
Originally a low building housing a brewery, the house on Charles Square known as U Sedlerů was rebuilt in 1899 by Rudolf Tereba. Its new neo-renaissance facade was decorated with a splendid art nouveau frieze depicting the establishment...
In 1902 – the year which saw a hugely influential exhibition of French art held in Prague – the elegant Café Louvre opened its doors on the first floor of an impressive townhouse by architects František Buldra and...
This beautifully-decorated villa was designed in the early 1900s by the Smíchov-based architect František Kavalír, a pupil of Jan Kotěra. Its name ‘Na Klavírce’ records the farmstead Klavírka which previously stood here when the hill above Smíchov was...
Also known as the Jerusalem synagogue and ‘Velká synagoga’ or ‘Great synagogue’, the Jubilee synagogue was originally proposed to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the reign of Franz Josef I in 1898. Five years earlier, a law had...
