Ten centuries of European architecture & heritage
Josef Mocker (1835-99) was the architect who, more than any other, embodied the spirit of the Gothic Revival in Bohemia. His vast legacy includes major additions to at least twenty existing buildings, among them St...
This plot in Wenceslas square has a fascinating pedigree. In 1396, shortly after Charles IV founded the New Town, a brewery stood here, strategically placed halfway along what was then the horsemarket. By 1600, a...
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...
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...
One of four friezes depicting ancient Olympic disciplines (discus, javelin and shot put) decorates the facade of this house on the corner of Zelená and Na Dionysce. Its companion pieces show a relay race and...
The Square of St Castulus (sv. Haštal), a quiet backwater of Prague’s Old Town, contains several notable buildings, including a Baroque-period ossuary (bone-house) dedicated to the Holy Trinity, on whose south-facing wall this fresco appears....
A richly decorative neo-renaissance frieze adorns the facade of these Vinohrady apartments. The building, dating from 1903, is by the architect Gustav Papež. The rhyming motto reads ‘Kdo zde bude přebývati, ruč mu Pán Bůh...
Jan Preisler’s ‘Trade and Industry’ mosaic (1901-2) decorates the facade of the art nouveau department store ‘U Nováků’ (Novak’s) near Wenceslas Square.
A mural depicting the slaying of a boar – possibly a reference to the legend of Bivoj – decorates the facade of one of the several art nouveau houses built by Jan Petrák in Bubenečská...
Number 17 is one of a row of five fine apartment buildings on this street designed around 1910 by the Dejvice-based architect Jan Petrák. All are decorated with highly-accomplished art nouveau murals. The house on...
