King Charles IV Memorial
Visitors to Prague cannot fail to be struck by the number of monuments and locations that bear the name ‘Charles’. They include the city’s mediaeval university, its largest public square, and of course its magnificent...
Tagged: czech history
Church of Saint Stephen, Štěpánská
The 14th-century church of Saint Stephen was one of two ecclesiastical foundations built specifically to serve the parish of Charles IV’s New Town. Construction took place between 1351 and 1392, close to the existing rotunda...
Church of the Holy Trinity, Zahořany u Křešic
One of the earliest baroque structures in Bohemia, the church of the Holy Trinity at Zahořany near Křešice was built between 1653 and 1657 by Bernardo Spineta from nearby Litoměřice, according to a plan by...
Okoř Castle
The ruins of this mid-fourteenth-century castle lie about seven miles northwest of Prague. The name Okoř is thought to be related to the word ‘kořen’, or ‘root’, and is the subject of a colourful tale...
Lány Chateau
The village of Lány, twenty miles from Prague, stands in a region of fields and forests used for hunting since at least the tenth century. But it was in 1587 that Emperor Rudolf II forged...
Praha-Bubny Railway Station
The first trains passed through this northern suburb of Prague in 1850, but it was not until 1873 that a station was constructed to service the coal industry that had grown up in the loop...
Polská 2400/1: Sokol building, Vinohrady
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,...
Liberec Town Hall
The north Bohemian town of Liberec may be only seventy miles from Prague but its origins as an important centre of the Flemish and German textile trade are evident everywhere – not least in the...
Liliová 17 and Karlova 18: The Golden Snake
By common consent, the first coffee-seller appeared in Prague in 1714. Originally from Damascus, the lively Armenian entrepreneur Gorgos Hatalah worked the streets of Malá Strana selling ‘Turkish’ coffee heated on a portable brazier, and...
Křižovnické náměstí 191/3: Monastery and church of St Francis
Agnes of Bohemia, sister of King Wenceslas I, was responsible for founding the very first Franciscan institutions in Bohemia. Her personal friendship with St Clare of Assisi – they corresponded with each other for twenty...
