Zborovská 1204/10
Where these apartments now stand, there was once open ground, sloping down to the river from the nearby house built by the baroque architect Kilián Ignac Dientzenhofer. Later there came a church, and finally in...
Tagged: statues
Karlova 178/22
This outstanding art nouveau facade designed by the architect Osvald Polívka was restored in 2005, exactly a hundred years after its completion. The sculpture of a girl with a harp and doves – possibly a...
Lesnická 1155/8
This flying art nouveau figure from 1907 looks like an allegorical representation of vanity: she is holding a mirror after all, and her floating cloak seems to be impossibly thin and insubstantial. But the clue...
Anglická 1219/27
This magnificent neo-baroque house at the corner of Anglická and Náměstí Míru is by the architect and designer Josef Pospíšil. Although relatively little is known about him, Pospíšil left behind an enormous catalogue of Prague...
Karlova 175/3: U Zlaté Studny
The facade of the 16th-century house ‘U Zlaté Studny’ (The Golden Well) was decorated in 1701 with these reliefs by Jan Oldřich Mayer. Clockwise from top left: Saint Wenceslas, Saint John of Nepomuk, Saint Roch,...
Belgická 130/32
A broken pediment in the baroque style adorns the facade of this historicist block in Prague’s Vinohrady district. The elegant neo-renaissance bust of a young woman – with her detailed clothing and tender expression –...
Husitská 191/47
A statue of Jan Hus, the 15th century church reformer whose execution in 1415 sparked the Hussite wars. This street is named after his followers, the Hussites; and the district through which it runs, Žižkov,...
Ruská 473/8
The facade of one of two adjacent houses both by Osvald Polívka. The mosaic between the musicians reads ‘Kde domov můj? -‘Where is my home?’ – the opening words of the Czech national anthem, music...
Betlémské náměstí 258/10
Betlémské náměstí (Bethlehem Square) is most famous for its chapel which from 1402 onwards became the de facto base for Jan Hus and his reformist congregations. Opposite the chapel stands this fine baroque house: the...
Václavské náměstí 832/19
Currently the home of the H&M fashion store in Wenceslas Square, this grand neo-baroque building by Friedrich Ohmann and Osvald Polívka was at one time the headquarters of the Trieste-based insurers Assicurazioni Generali. Between 1...
