Karlův Most: Charles Bridge
In 1170, King Vladislav II of Bohemia commissioned a stone bridge connecting the Old Town and Malá Strana. Built just downstream of the present structure, the surviving buttress of the former bridge can still be...
Category: baroque
Ke Karlovu 453/1: Church of Our Lady and Charlemagne
The Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary and Charlemagne was constructed by the great gothic architect Matthew of Arras in 1351 on an escarpment overlooking the Botič Valley; its octagonal ground plan...
Sokolovská 24/136: Invalidovna
Taking his cue from the construction of Les Invalides in Paris, Count Petr Strozzi left directions for the foundation of a similar institution in Prague for veterans and wounded soldiers. Work commenced in the district...
Staroměstské náměstí: Church of Saint Nicholas
The second of Prague’s two great churches dedicated to Saint Nicholas was erected in the Old Town Square between 1732 and 1737 on the site of a 13th century parish church. Its architect was Kilián...
Church of Saint Ignatius Loyola
The Jesuit church dedicated to the founder of that order, Saint Ignatius Loyola, dominates Charles Square in Prague’s New Town. It was built between 1658 and 1671 by Carlo Lurago and his pupil Giovanni Domenico...
Prague Castle: Spanish Hall
Conceived in the late 1500s by the architect Giovanni Gargioli and completed in 1602-8 by Giovanni Maria Filippi, the Spanish Hall (Španělský sál) is one of the most impressive of Prague Castle’s state rooms. Named...
Strahovské nádvoří 132/1: Strahov Library
The Strahov monastery has been home to the order of Premonstratensians (White Canons) since 1143, and to the relics of Saint Norbert – the order’s founder – since 1627. The complex of buildings is remarkable...
Nerudova 233/47: U dvou slunců
Devotees of Pablo Neruda, the Chilean Nobel Prize winner, will be aware that he adopted his pen-name in homage to the earlier Czech poet Jan Neruda, who spent his formative years at the baroque House...
Úvoz 169/6: The Three Axes
‘U tři seker’ (The Three Axes) is one of several houses on this street in Prague’s Castle District to retain their original house signs. This one refers to the story that a carpenter once lived...
Úvoz 161/22: U zrcadla
Madonna and Child with the attributes of Justice: stucco decoration on the facade of the house ‘U zrcadla’ (The Mirror), dating from 1729. Enthroned beneath a gilded baldachin, the Queen of Heaven cradles the Christ...
