Polská 1352/32

The complex patterns on the facade of this 1905 house by Jan Majer and Jan Bláha are suggestive of natural designs such as those of the spider’s web, one reason for including the creature itself.

But there are a number of symbolic reasons for such decoration. Spiders can be emblems of fate and deception, or of thrift and industry. Newly repainted, this one has been marked (like the actual spider Araneus diadematus) with a white cross, perhaps to invoke the blessing of Christ upon the house.