PRAGUE
Prague Castle
Prague Castle was founded around the year 880 by Prince Borivoj of the house of Premyslides. The first walled building was the Church of Virgin Mary. Other churches, dedicated to St. George and St. Vitus, were founded in the first half of the 10th century.From the 10th century Prague Castle was not only the seat of the head of state, the princes and later kings, but also of the highest representative of church, the Prague bishop. The first convent in Bohemia was also founded in the grounds of Prague Castle, a convent next to the church of St. George for the order of Benedictine nuns.
The basilica of St. Vitus, built on the site of the original rotunda in 11th century, where the relics of the patron saints of the land were kept: SS. Vitus, Wenceslas and Adalbert. And from the 10th century the convent of the Prague church was an important educational and cultural institution.
The period of the
rule of King and later Emperor Charles
IV (the middle
of the 14th century) was a prosperous time for Prague Castle, because
it became an imperial residence for the first time, the seat of the ruler of
the Holy Roman Empire. The royal palace was magnificently rebuilt and
the fortifications strengthened. Building began on the Gothic church of
St. Vitus on the model of French cathedrals. Building continued on the
Castle during the reign of Charles's son, Wenceslas IV. The Hussite
wars and the following decades, when the Castle was not inhabited,
caused the dilapidation of its buildings and fortifications.The next favourable time came after 1483, when a king of the new dynasty of Jagellons again made the Castle his seat. New fortifications were built and, together with them, defence towers on the northern side (the Powder Tower, the New White Tower and Daliborka).
The kings of a further dynasty, the Habsburgs, started rebuilding the Castle into a renaissance seat. In accordance with the taste of the time the Royal Garden was founded first, and in the course of the 16th century buildings serving for entertainment were put up in it: a summer palace, a ball games hall, a shooting range and a lion's court. Afterwards the cathedral and the royal palace were adapted.
The adaptation of the Castle came to its height in the second half of the 16th century, during the rule of Rudolph II. The emperor settled permanently in Prague Castle and began to turn it into a grand and dignified centre of the empire. And he founded the northern wing of the palace, with today's Spanish Hall, to house his precious artistic and scientific collections.
The Prague defenestration in 1618 started a long period of wars, during which Prague Castle was damaged and robbed. It was used by the country's ruler only exceptionally and temporarily.
In the second half of the 18th century the last great rebuilding of the Castle was carried out, making it a prestigious castle-type seat. But at that time the capital or the empire was Vienna, and Prague was just a provincial town. The Castle gradually became dilapidated and its art treasures were impoverished by the sale of the remains of the Emperor Rudolph's collections.
Emperor Ferdinand V, after abdicating in 1848, chose Prague Castle as his home. On this occasion the Chapel of the Holy Cross on the Second Courtyard was rebuilt. The Spanish Hall and the Rudolph Gallery were done up in preparation for the coronation of Francis Joseph I which, however, did not take place.
There was a big movement to complete the building of the cathedral, but this was not inspired by the ruler but by the patriotic Union for Completing the Cathedral of St. Vitus. It was in fact completed in 1929.
After the foundation of the independent Czechoslovak Republic in 1918 Prague Castle again became the seat of the head of state. The Slovene architect Josip Plecnik was entrusted with the necessary alterations in 1920.
St. Vitus Cathedral
St. Vitus Cathedral is the largest and the most important temple in
Prague. Apart from religious services the coronations of Czech kings
and queens also took place in here. The cathedral is a place of
interment of remains of provincial patron saints, sovereigns, noblemen
and archbishops.
The cathedral is the third church consecrated to the same saint on the
identical site. About the year 925 Prince Vaclav I founded a Romanesque
rotunda here which after 1060 was converted into a basilica with three
naves and two steeples. The importance of the cathedral grew especially
after the establishment of the Prague bishopric in 973 and the founding
of the body of canons - the St. Vitus chapter, which later became an
important cultural and administrative institution.
In 1344 Charles IV began the construction of a Gothic cathedral. Its
first builders, Matthias of Arras and later Peter Parler, built the
chancel with a ring of chapels, St. Wenceslas Chapel, the Golden Portal
and the lower part of the main steeple.
In spite of the endeavours of some sovereigns to secure the
continuation of the construction work the cathedral remained
uncompleted for whole centuries. The main steeple was crowned with a
Renaissance helmet and the music choir was built. The facade of the
cathedral was provisionally closed.
It was not until the latter half of the 19th century that the Union
for the Completion of the Building of St. Vitus Cathedral began the
repair of the original part and the completion of the building of the
cathedral in Neo-Gothic style. The cathedral was solemnly consecrated
in 1929. Its interior was subjected to adaptations even in later years.
Visitors enter the cathedral through the portal in the western
facade,
opposite the passage-way between the Second and Third Courtyards of
Prague Castle.
Its bronze door is decorated with reliefs with scenes from the history
of the cathedral and from the legends about St. Wenceslas and St.
Adalbert.
The Neo-Gothic part of the cathedral consists of the main nave and
the narrow side aisles, lined with chapels, and the northern wing of
the transverse nave. The chapels have stained glass windows. The
construction of the large southern steeple was started by Peter Parler,
but he did not complete it. It gained its originally planned height
after being provided with a Renaissance helmet in the 16th century. St.
Wenceslas's Chapel partly reaches on to the area of the transverse
nave. The different conception of its architecture and its magnificent
decoration emphasize its importance as the central point of the
cathedral as a whole. The solemn entrance to the cathedral, the
Golden Portal, affords access to the chapel from the Third Courtyard.
Situated in the chancel of the cathedral, in front of the high alter, is the royal mausoleum below which, in the crypt, there is the royal tomb. The chancel is surrounded by a ring of Gothic chapels. Czech sovereigns and patron saints are interred in some of them.
St. Wenceslas Chapel
St. Wenceslas Chapel is a cult centre of St. Vitus Cathedral. Its magnificent decoration and the different conception of its architecture emphasize its singularity as the central point of the cathedral with the tomb of the most important provincial patron saint. The facing of the walls, consisting of precious stones, and the wall paintings of the Passion cycle are parts of the original 14th-century decoration of the chapel. The scenes from the life of St. Wenceslas forming another decorative band are attributed to the workshop of the Master of the Litomerice Altar (the cycle is dated in 1509).The door in the south-western corner of the chapel leads to the Crown Chamber in which the Bohemian Coronation Jewels are kept.
Lesser Town Square (Malostranské náměstí)
The Lesser Town Square with distinctive dominant of the St. Nicolas Church was basically planned as the square and the main Lesser Town market area in connection with founding of the Prague New town (as was this Prague quarter called until 1348) by the Czech king Přemysl Otakar II (1253 - 1278) in 1257. During centuries it crystallized into the current shape, while changing its names, i.e. Square (Rynk), Lesser Town Square (Malostranský rynk), Stephen Square between 1847 . 1869 and the Lesser Town Square since 1869. Between 1859 - 1918, when there was a monument of the Count John Joseph Wenceslaus Radetzky of Radetz here, it was unofficially called Radetzky Square. In the 17th century after the St. Nicolas Church with the Jesuit profession house was built, basically two autonomous squares were created, Upper and Lower; the Upper Square was called Italian Place until 1847, since the shops of the Italian inhabitants of the Lesser Town were situated there.
St. Nicholas Church, Lesser Town (Sv. Mikulás - chrám - Malá Strana)
One of the most valuable buildings of the "Prague Baroque" period with a dominant dome and the belfry (architects K. Dienzenhofer, K. I. Dienzenhofer, A. Lurago, 1704 - 1756). Also the inside decoration of the church is a specimen of the high baroque style (J. L. Kracker, K. Skreta). W. A. Mozart played the organ here during his stay in Prague.Lesser Town Bridge Towers (Malostranské mostecké veze)
The smaller tower - the romanesque one, a relic of the Judita's Bridge, was constructed in the 12th century. The higher one is 200 years younger (1464) and its late gothis architecture draws upon the Parler's Old Town Bridge Tower.Charles Bridge (Karluv most)
The oldest Prague
bridge built in the place of the Judita's Bridge that had been badly
damaged by a flood in 1342. The Stone or Prague Bridge since 1870
called Charles Bridge, was founded by Charles IV in the year 1357. By
the latest researches the construction was started by Master Otto and
finished by Peter Parler in 1402. Both ends of the bridge are fortified
by towers (the Lesser Town Bridge Towers, the Old Town Bridge Tower).
From 1683 to 1928 thirty sculptures and sculptural groups of the saints
were gradually set on the bridge piers (M. Braun, F. M. Brokof, etc.)
The bridge is 515 meters long and 10 meters wide.Old Town Square (Staromestské námestí)
The most significant
square of historical Prague. It originated in the 12th century and
since then witnessed many events. Beside the Old Town Hall and the
Church of Our Lady before Týn (see a special heading) the square has
several other dominants, the baroque St. Nicholas church (K. I.
Dienzenhofer, 1732 - 1737), the rococo Kinský palace housing the
National Gallery exhibition hall, the Stone Bell house - a gothic city
palace from the 14th century - now the Municipal Gallery concert and
exhibition rooms, and the Memorial to Master Jan Hus sculptured by
Ladislav Saloun(1915).The very place where the 27 Czech gentlemen were executed on 21 June, 1621, is marked in the square pavement.
The Prague meridian can be seen not far from there.
Wenceslaw square
The magnificently conceived square was created during foundation of the New Town by the Charles IV in 1348. It is 750 m long and 63 m wide in the upper part and 48 m in the lower one. Houses, craftsman shops, malt houses and breweries were built around the allocated space within several years. The square was called Horse Market, since it was intended for horse trading and also various agricultural product trades. Stalls to sell saddles and belts, fabrics and spices were built later in the lower part. The local markets were liquidated in 1877. There were also executions performed on the market . the gallows were standing in the upper and lower parts of the square. There was a pond with a mill in the lower part called Na Můstku with public water well in the middle; three fountains were built later in the square axis. At the end of the 14th century the Horse Gate or St. Procopius Gate was built as a part of fortifications at the area of today.s National Museum, the gate was taken down in 1875. In 1680 the baroque statue of St. Wenceslas by Jan Jiří Bendl (currently at Vyąehrad) was erected at the entrance of Jindřiąská Street and later, in the year of 1727, the baroque group of statues of John of Nepomuk with angels by an unknown sculptor opposite of today.s Nepomucká Street. Both statues were removed in 1879. The statue of the Czech lands patron was the place, where Prague inhabitants congregated at important moments. After one of these memorable people gatherings in 1848 Karel Havlíček Borovský suggested that the Horse Market would be renamed to St. Wenceslas one. Czech patriots opened the first Czech theater near the middle fountain in 1786. It was called Bouda (Shack) and plays in it were performed in the Czech language. It was taken down in 1789, since it obstructed traffic. Soon afterwards the whole square was paved by cobblestones, called "fried eggs". Gas lighting was installed in 1865. The gas lamps stood in rows along sidewalks and from 1868 stately cast iron lamp posts with lights were installed in the middle along the square axis. They were designed by an architect Aleą Linsbauer and a sculptor Eduard Wessely. Electric lighting was permanently installed at the Wenceslas square in 1895.
A spreading building of the National Museum was built in the upper part of the square in 1890 and it dominates the square until today. Originally the square was without greenery and trees. The lower part of the square was planted with four rows and the upper one with six rows of trees (sycamores and others) in 1876. Many of them soon perished that is why the director of Prague parks Mr. Frantiąek Thomayer replaced them with green lindens, which were planted along sidewalks, in the middle of the nineties. Silver or tomentous lindens grow on the square today, since they are more resistant. There are more than 150 of them here.
The first street car still pulled by horses came through the square in 1884. Its route led from Můstek through the square to Vinohrady (Vineyards) and further to the Nusle Stairs. The first electric street car went over the tracks moved to the sidewalks in 1900. The trams were operated on the square until 1980. The last one was the number 22 at night on December 13th. After the tracks were removed a number of decorative bushes, grasses and flowers were put in and a large pedestrian zone was created in the lower part of the square in the eighties. A promenade was built around the St. Wenceslas statue.
The St. Wenceslas monument was built in the upper part of the square by Josef Václav Myslbek in 1912-1913.
St. Wenceslas, the patron saint of the Czech lands, was a witness of many glorious
and also tragic events of the modern history of the land and Prague inhabitants. The Wenceslas Square always was and still is the natural center of the New Town inhabitants and the Prague people overall. After the First World War a lot of construction was going on here and especially after establishment of the Great Prague in 1922 the most luxurious houses, banks, shops, hotels and restaurants were built on the square, as well as in the biggest streets that cross it . 28th October Street and connected National Boulevard and the street Na Příkopě. That is why this social and commercial center acquired the name Golden Cross (Zlatý kříľ).
Three empty tracts after the houses destroyed during bombardment were built over after the end of the World War II in 1945: the Foodstuffs House, the Jalta Hotel and the Fashion House. Three subway entrances were built on the square in the middle of the 20th century in connection with the subway construction. The quality of the first subway entrance, which was built in the middle of the square in 1968, was tested by Soviet tanks during occupation just before it was opened. The subway entrance was projected by an engineer Mr. Jaroslav Straąil and his associates. This entrance was connected by an escalator with the subway station Můstek in August of 1978. The subway entrances in front of the National Museum and at Můstek were built and opened at the same time when operation of the subway line A started in 1978. The subway entrance at Můstek with six outlets is the largest one, beyond the pedestrian entrance itself it includes a spacious vestibule to the subway stations of A and B lines. Three buildings had to give way to this construction: the building at the corner of the square and so called Mouse Hole, where Hungarian cultural center originally resided, the house at Můstek and the house at Provaznická Street.
