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...
Tagged: Prague 1
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...
Prague Castle: Matthias Gate
‘D[ominus] Matthias El[ectus] Rom[anus] Imp[erator] S[emper] Aug[ustus] Hung[ariae] Boh[emiae] Rex etc. F[ieri] F[ecit] An[n]o MDCXIV’ ‘Master Matthias, elected Roman Emperor, forever August, King of Hungary, Bohemia etc., ordered this to be built in the year...
Martinská 8: Church of Saint Martin-in-the-Wall
Saint Martin’s is one of the oldest churches in Prague. An original romanesque temple of 1178 (parts of which survive) was incorporated into the defensive wall of the Old Town some time in the 13th...
Hradčanské náměstí 56/16: Archbishop’s Palace
Commissioned by Jan Bedřich von Waldstein, and built between 1675 and 1679 by Francesco Lurago on the site of the existing Bishops’ Palace, the imposing baroque structure with its prominent central bay and impressive pavilion...
Cathedral of Saint Vitus: South Tower and Golden Gate
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...
Malostranské náměstí: Cathedral of Saint Nicholas
The monumental cathedral of Saint Nicholas was begun in the late 1670s as the centrepiece of the recatholicization of Bohemia following the Thirty Years’ War. In 1702 the great Prague architect Kryštof Dientzenhofer took over...
Maiselova 41/21
The ‘asanace’ (or cleansing) of the old Jewish town of Prague began in earnest in 1895. Synagogues were preserved, but six hundred ordinary dwellings were destroyed in favour of a ambitious new streetplan. Central to...
Pařížská 98/17: Old Synagogue Restaurant
Elaborately painted and gilded stucco-work adorns the art-nouveau facade of The Old Synagogue restaurant in Prague’s Josefov district, designed in 1906 by the architects František Weyr and Richard Klenka of Vlastimil. The restaurant – whose...
Dušní 141/12: The Spanish Synagogue
Erected on the site of the mediaeval ‘Old School’ synagogue, the present structure dates from 1868. Many names are associated with the plans for the building, including that of Vojtěch Ignác Ullmann, but it seems...
