A powerful symbol of the magic of Prague, the clock represents the passing of time and life. When the hour strikes, Christ appears with the twelve apostles, Death, the Turk, the Jew and Vanity. The cock crows at the end the display. The clock was ins..

Terraced gardens, known as the ‘‘gardens below the Castle’’, run all along the southern side of the Castle to Malá Strana , affording magnificent views of the entire city. The main architectural asset of Ledebour Garden is its splendid sala ter..

The romantic silhouette of Karlstein Castle overlooking the winding Berounka Valley is one of the most spectacular sights in Bohemia. The castle is divided into four parts: the main entrance and Burgrave courtyard , the archbishop's palace with the ..

Built in the 13C on the orders of Agnes, Wenceslas I's sister, this convent of Poor Clare was inspired by Cisterchian architecture. The Convent contains the Chapel of the Virgin Mary , St Saviour's Church , and the elegant presbytery . It was requ..

This was the first stone bridge over the Vltava built under the orders of Charles VI. It joins Stare Mesto and Mala Strana and was built between 1357 and 1402. Charles Bridge is a 516-metre-long, 9.5-metre-wide Gothic structure resting on mortar join..

A simple church has stood here since the 10C, frequented by foreign merchants who negotiated in the walls of the Tyn. In 1270, it was replaced by a first Gothic building, succeeded by the current one, started in 1380 but not finished until the late 1..

Charles IV was responsible for the construction of a cathedral within the Castle walls to replace the Romanesque basilica. St Guy's was started in 1344 under the direction of Matthew of Arras in the French Gothic style. His work was continued by P..

The Castle is more than that: it is a string of courts, a puzzle of palaces and churches, mazes and alleyways; a real city within a city. Despite its long and often troubled history, through times of starvation and decline, it has been a unifying for..

The foundations (of which there remain some ruins) go back to the 10C. On top of the primitive Romanesque palace was built a Gothic construction which Ladislas II rebuilt in a Renaissance style at the end of the 15C, building the floor which now hous..

Between the bend in the Vltava and the Castle, bordered by the green Petrin hill to the south, the «little side» of Mala Strana is strewn with palaces and churches. While it is difficult to find the traces of the area's troubled history here, you can..

Erected between 1905 and 1911 opposite the Powder Tower , the Municipal Building (Obecní dum) was a challenging project: constructing an edifice intended for prestigious official and cultural gatherings, and the various related services, on an irreg..

On 16th June 1868, 50,000 pairs of hands carried a stone to this spot from Mount Rip, where the mythical father of the nation, Cech , is said to have seen his promised land. On 11 June 1881 the National Theatre (Národní divadlo), built by Josef Zit..

Created in 1781 by Count Nostitz , this theatre's name was made by the triumphant creation of Mozart's Don Giovanni in 1786. Largely dominated by a German repertory, it was soon to open up to Czech music... but returned to the German language in 1..

The Jewish quarter in Prague goes back to the city's very beginnings. From the 9C, communities were set up and in the 13C settled in a ghetto complete with its own fortifications in the heart of the Old City. Over the years and monarchies, the Jews w..

There are 12,000 tombs, but probably close to 80,000 people are buried in the Jewish Cemetery (Starý zidovský hrbitov). The Jewish rite forbidding disinterment means that coffins have been buried on a dozen different levels. Both humble and illustrio..

For some, the Staronová Synagoga was built with stones brought from the Temple of Jerusalem. Others claim that it appeared entirely built, on a plot of land that was being levelled out. Others say that its Hebrew name, which means ‘‘Provisional’’, si..

This is a 750-metre avenue that ends at the imposing National Museum and the Statue of Wenceslas on Horseback . It was originally the horse market that Charles IV wanted to make the centre of his New City. Since the 19C, this has been the symbolic g..

The Veletrzni Palace , an immense concrete and glass building designed by O. Tyl and J. Fuchs in 1924, was initially intended for industrial exhibitions. The Nazis used it as a provisional detention centre for Jews, and the Communists turned it into..

Hradcany is the most visible area of the city, due to the Castle and the spires of St Guy's, as well as the most visited, because of the many attractions that delight monument-seekers: from its paintings, buildings and churches to its views. It is al..

Housed in a building that was built ad hoc in 1942, this museum contains all sorts of flying, driving and other machinery that show the importance of Czech innovation in the development of technology and their enthusiasm for all types of inventions..