Josefov

Josefov represents one of the historical towns of Prague as well as the smallest catastral district of Prague and was formerly the old Jewish ghetto. It is completely surrounded by the Old Town and this quarter is often represented by the flag of Jewish community with a yellow Magen David called the Star of David on a red field.

Jewish Quarter

Over the centuries more and more people were forced to live in the area because Jews were banned from living anywhere else. Restrictions on their movements and trade that they were allowed to conduct constantly changed. This quarter of Prague takes its name – Josefov – in honor of the Emperor Joseph II who accorded full citizens rights to the local Jewish inhabitants.

Important Buildings

With the exception six synagogues, the Old Cemetery and Jewish Town Hall, no other buildings remain from the former Jewish Ghetto, as during the 19th and the 20th centuries, the entire area was cleared. Today, mostly eclectic architecture is found here. When visiting the area of Josefov, you should not miss the Kafkas home, Maisel synagogue, Spanish synagogue, Klausen synagogue, Pinkas synagogue, Ceremonial Hall with the Old Jewish Cemetery.

Josefov is just 15 minutes walk from our hostel, book from wide selection of rooms and apartments!

Goltz–Kinsky Palace

Goltz-Kinskych palace, with its beautiful pink and white stucco fasade, promotes the unique look of Old Town Square. The original palace was built for Jan Arnost Goltz in 1755-65 on the site of several former Renaissance palaces with early medieval foundations. Jan Arnost Goltz had the whole complex rebuilt into Rococo palace with two entrances framed with two pillars each. On the first floor the massive pillars are connected with a balcony and balustrade. After Count Goltz’s death, the palace was bought by Kinsky family who use to reside in there until 1945. In the palace is possible to find a valuable family library which today hosts collections for the National Gallery.

Special Positioning

One thing makes the palace very special in the Old Town Square. Notice that the palace doesn’t stand in-ine with the neighbouring buildings but protrudes a little into the square.  One legend tells that the town council didn’t want to allow this special positioning of the palace. But the count successfully bribed three avaricious councilmen, in order to obtain permission. By the time the other councilmen saw the positioning of the palace it was almost finished and therefore too late to do anything about as no-one wanted to demolish the building. Even though the count was prosecuted, he was found not guilty due to testimony from the three councilmen he had bribed. And what happend to them? They were hanged in front of the palace. Well, the legend was proved wrong as evidence sugests that the architect only followed the original position of previous buildings.

Famous People

The Goltz – Kinsky palace is connected with the names of some very famous and important people. For example the Austrian writer, baroness Bertha von Suttner, the first woman to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1905, was born in Goltz – Kinsky Palace in 1843. The palace also housed a German speaking grammar school attended by the famous writer Franz Kafka. Kafka’s  father used to have a small shop on the ground floor of the palace.

Important Announcements

On 25th February 1948 Klement Gottwald, the leader of the Communist party of Czechoslovakia and later President of Czechoslovakia, announced the Communist party’s successful coup here and therefore officially started the communist era in our country. On the same day, but 42 years later ,also the first President of free Czechoslovakia, Vaclav Havel, declared that the communist era was at an end in Czechoslovakia.

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Old Town Square

The Old Town Square is one of those unique places which no lover of Prague historical sights should miss out on. It has always represented the most important part of the Old Town quarter of Prague. Prague’s oldest marketplace has always been situated in the very center of the city. In the past, it has been the site of many tragic and unfortunate events – it was here that 27 representatives of the anti-Habsburg uprising were executed after losing the battle of the White Mountain. And from the balcony of Goltz-Kinsky Palace, Klement Gottwald announced the communist party’s successful coup in February 1948.

Important Monuments

The Old Town Square covers quite a large area of 9000 m2 and is full of monuments originating from various historic areas. Two beautiful churches represent an integral part of the Square – the Gothic Cathedral of the Virgin Mary before Tyn, as well as the Baroque Church of St Nicholas. The square is an oasis for travelers wearied by Prague’s narrow streets. Aswell as the churches, tourists will admire the Old Town Hall with its famous Astronomical Clock, along withs its 70 m high tower offering a panoramic view of Prague. The dominant feature in the center of the square is the monument to religious reformer Jan Hus who was found guilty of heresy and burned to death in Constance in 1415. The square is surrounded by a number of other important buildings which offer visitors a rich cultural experience, for example the National Gallery in the Goltz-Kinsky Palace, the Gallery of the City of Prague in the House at the Stone Bell, among many others.

Old Town Square Today

Nowadays, the Old Town Square represents not only a favorite place for gatherings, New Year’s celebrations, Christmas and Easter markets, as well as a place for demonstrations. During important ice-hockey and football matches, large screens are installed and always draw huge crowds of fans.

Old town Square is just 15 minutes walk from our hostel, book from wide selection of rooms and apartments!

House At The Stone Bell

The Old Town Square is full of monuments, famous buildings and sculptures. One of the oldest and most important monuments, situated in the very heart of Prague in the Old Town Square, is the House At The Stone Bell. Its front facade is considered to be one of the most beautiful examples of Gothic architecture in Europe. This beautiful house illustrates the magnificence during the reign of Charles IV.

Construction

The house was built in the second half of the 13th century. The story goes that this Gothic palace used to be the property of Elizabeth I of Bohemia, the mother of Charles IV, who was reputed to have been born here. The house had many owners. One of them was Augustin Forster who was executed for conspiracy and betrayal at the very door-step of this house. As you can see the house was not used just for dwelling purposes. The original Gothic house was significantly rebuilt in the Baroque style and later in the Neo-Baroque style. Much of the gothic building material was reused in construction. It did not regain its original Gothic appearance until the extensive and challenging reconstruction in the 1980s.

Name Of The House

The name for the House At The Stone Bell was recorded as early as in 1413. As the name suggests, it was named after a stone bell whose replica is situated at the corner of the house. One legend tells that the bell was placed there after it had fallen from the Church Of Our Lady Before The Tyn on the Old Town Square. But another legend describes the origin of the name „At The Stone Bell“. The bell was placed there as a reminder of the historical event in 1310 when the Queen Elisabeth´s parson used a bell to give a sign to the future King John of Luxembourg indicating that he could come with his army to occupy the Prague Old Town without violence or bloodshed.

House At The Stone Bell Today

Since 1988 the House at the Stone Bell has been used by the Museum and the Gallery of the City of Prague. The house now serves as a beautiful venue for classical concerts and exhibitions.

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Národní Street

Národní street represents one of the important avenues in Prague. It forms the borderline between the New Town and the Old Town, in the southwest direction from the centre of the city. This avenue connects the Legion bridge with Jungmannovo square. In the Middle Ages, there used to be fortification walls here. In the 1900s, the avenue was called as Nové Aleje (New Avenue) but its name changed down the years:  In the course of the19th century, important buildings and institutions, such as the National Theatre and the Czech Academy of Sciences were built here.

Národní Třída And The Velvet Revolution

On Friday 17th November 1989, riot police violently suppressed a peaceful student demonstration here, which is now considered to have sparked off the Velvet Revolution. Národní Třída continued to be an eventful place during the rest of the Revolution.

The Velvet Revolution

The Velvet Revolution, or Gentle Revolution, was a non-violent revolution in Czechoslovakia that witnessed the overthrow of the authoritarian government. It is thought to be one of the most important  European revolutions of 1989. The November 17th suppression by riot police of the student demonstration in Prague led to a series of popular demonstrations which took place between November 19th and late December. By November 20 the number of peaceful protesters who assembled in Prague had swollen from 200,000 the previous day to an estimated half-million people. A two-hours general strike, involving all the citizens of Czechoslovakia was held on November 27.

Victory

The collapse of other Warsaw Pact governments and increasing street protests led the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia announcing on November 28 that it would relinquish power and dismantle the single-party state. Barbed wire and other obstructions were removed from the border with the Western Germany and Austria in the early December. On December 10, President Gustáv Husák appointed the first largely non-communist government in Czechoslovakia since 1948, and resigned. Alexander Dubček was elected as the speaker of the federal parliament on December 28. Václav Havel became the President of Czechoslovakia on December 29, 1989. In June 1990 Czechoslovakia held its first democratic elections since 1946.

The Term ”Velvet Revolution”

The term Velvet Revolution was used internationally, as well as domestically, to describe the revolution. After the dissolution of the nations in 1993, Slovakia used the term Gentle Revolution, a term that Slovaks had used for the revolution from the beginning. The Czech Republic continues to refer to the event as the Velvet Revolution.

Národní Street is just 15 minutes walk from our hostel, book from wide selection of rooms and apartments!

House At The Black Madonna – Museum Of Czech Cubism

The museum is situated in the centre of Prague, at the point where Celetná St. meets Ovocný trh. The house is very well situated and isone of Prague’s most attractive places. It has also been declared a national cultural monument.

Interesting Building

The House at the Black Madonna represents the Chef d’oeuvre of Cubism in architecture even if the construction itself cannot hide its modernist character. It was built in the years 1911-12 for František Josef Herbst to the design of architect Josef Gočár. The original design also slightly differed from the final construction. Originally, this was a multifunctional building with stores on the ground level and the famous „Orient Café“ and Cubist movables on the second floor. There were also offices and apartments here. The interesting design of the facade follows requirements of the city magistrate that the height of the cornice has to correspond with the hip-roof. This solution fits perfectly into the historical environment. In 1912, the architect added Cubist details to the entrance, Cubist attic windows and metal parts of the balcony balustrade. The balustrade of the interior staircase was also cast in the same style as the outside Cubist details.

Czech Museum Of Cubism

The fact that after the recent reconstruction, its spaces were assigned to the Museum of Czech Cubism owes to a brilliant decision by the Ministry of Culture. The exhibition was arranged by the National Gallery in Prague in collaboration with the Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague and the National Museum.

Czech Cubism

The Czech Cubism movement represented one of the important in the development of art, design and architecture of the Central Europe in the first half of the 20th century. The proponents of Czech Cubism born in the 1880s were able to use the creative ideas from their own cultural background, particularly of the Baroque, alongside the new inspiration found in European, mainly French modern art, and established Cubism as the most complex style of modern times. The exhibition of Edvard Munch’s works, held in Prague in 1905, provided a key to the psychological nature of that time. It was above all under the influence of Munch’s symbolical Expressionism and the French painting of the second half of the 19th century that the young Prague artists approached the expressive painting as the starting point for their efforts to conceive art in a new way.

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Estate Theatre

The Estate theatre, or Stavovské divadlo, in Prague is considered to be one of the most beautiful European theatres built in the Classicist style. František Antonín, count of Nostic-Rieneck founded the Estate Theatre in 1781 in the accordance with the decree issued by the emperor Joseph II. 1783 saw the first performance here. The classical building by architect Antonín Haffenecker was altered many times during later years. Although it was supposed to be a Czech theatre, plays were performed in the German language. The first real stage play in Czech language was in 1785.

Important Artists

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart introduced his opera Don Giovanni here for the very first time in this very theatre on 29 October 1787 with the participation of Mozart himself. This great event is commemorated by a memorial plaque. Another first night of Mozart’s opera, La Clemenza di Tito, was played here during the coronation of Leopold II. The Estate Theatre has been associated with other great names, such as the leader of the theatre orchestra Carl Maria von Weber, singer Angelica Catalani, Niccolo Paganini, conductors Anton Rubinstein, Carl Goldmark, Gustav Mahler and many others.

Czech National Anthem

For the Czechs, the theatre is associated with one more important event; the first performance of the comedy Fidlovačka on 21 December 1834. Its authors Josef Kajetan Tyl and Frantisek Skroup couldn’t have known at that time that one of the songs from this comedy “Kde domov muj?” (Where Is My Home?) would become the Czech national anthem.

Estate Theatre Today

If you want to enjoy the atmosphere of this venue where so many great people have performed, the Estate Theatre in Prague offers a rich programme of operas, dramas and ballet. Mozart Operas use to be performed here during summer seasons.Who knows, maybe you’ll see a future world famous star.

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St Agnes of Bohemia Convent

St Agnes of Bohemia Convent is considered to be the first Gothic building not only in Prague, but throughout the whole of Bohemia. It represents one of the most famous and significant convents in Bohemia. In 1978, it was declared the National Cultural Monument of the Czech Republic. The convent was founded by the sister of King Wenceslas I as a complex of two monasteries – Clare Nuns Convent and Minorite Frati Friary – and three sanctuaries – St Francis Church, St. Saviour Church and Mary Magdalene Chapel – all of them dating back to the 13th century. Moreover, you will find St Agnes’s private oratory, St Barbora’s Chapel and the Premyslid mausoleum.

History Of The St Agnes Convent

The complex of St Agnes Convent was built  in 1233 – 1234. The first women came to the convent in autumn 1233 – five nuns from Italian Assisi and seven Bohemian girls of nobel birth. They belonged to the Poor Clares, (also called The Order of Poor Ladies), founded by Saints Clare of Assisi and Francis of Assisi in 1212 on Franciscan principles. In 1234 St Agnes of Bohemia, the daughter of the Bohemian king Premysl Otakar I, entered the convent and became its abbess. King Wenceslas I. and later on the Pope, took the convent under their protection and accorded it many privileges. At that time, the St Agnes Convent represented one of the most modern buildings in Prague. The nuns left the convent during the Hussite’s movement. The convent, as many others, was abolished in 1782 on the order of the Emperor Joseph II and a hundred years of devastation followed.

National Gallery

The first attempts to save this precious monument date back to the end of the 19th century – when the union for the renovation of the convent was established – and with several interruptions, lasted another century. The reconstruction was completed as late as 1986, when the exhibition facillities of the National Gallery were opened here. At present, it houses medieval art collections.

Legend

It’s said that the Clarisses used to make an elixir called swallow water from an old recipe they received from a poor Polish noblewoman. The nuns sold the elixir to people for a token amount, or just gave it to them for free. After the abolition of the St Agnes Convent, only one of the nuns knew the secret recipe. Unfortunately, she never revealed the secret to anybody else and the secret died with her. So far no one has ever been successful in recreating the elixir.

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Bethlehem Chapel

The Bethlehem Chapel definitely represents one of the most important buildings of medieval Prague and has always been associated with the name of Jan Hus and his religious reforms. The chapel was founded in 1391 for the preaching of the God’s Word in Bohemia as an obligation of the university masters. The building used to have a capacity of 3000 people who came to pray.

Jan Hus

One of the most famous preachers of the Bethlehem Chapel was Jan Hus, the rector of Charles University, who was influenced by the English Church reformer John Wycliffe. Jan Hus criticized the corrupt practises of the Catholic Church. Thanks to him the chapel became very popular and became the birthplace of the Reformation Movement.

Important Events

After 1620 Bethlehem Chapel was taken over by the Jesuits for use by the Catholic Church. On the order of Emperor Joseph II, the chapel was closed, desecrated and torn down in 1786. An apartment house was built on the site. Nowadays you can see a faithful 1952 reconstruction of the chapel by architect Jaroslav Fragner who used parts of the original masonry and drew inspiration from old drawings. And how did the Bethlehem Chapel acquired its name? Well, the chapel was consecrated on the day commemorating the murder of the children of Bethlehem. Nowadays the Bethlehem Chapel forms an integral part of Czech national cultural heritage, and guidebooks available in many different languages can be purchased here.

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Wallenstein Palace

Wallenstein Palace is the first of Prague Baroque buildings. The owner of this palace intented to overshadow all Prague palaces, even competing with Prague Castle. The Imperial Generalissimo Albrecht of Wallenstein, one of the most famous citizens of Bohemia in the 17th century, had built a great residence in the Prague Lesser Town.

Construction

Wallenstein palace was built between 1623 and 1630. Before the work started, 23 houses, the town wall gate called Písecká, 3 gardens and a brickyard had to be torn down in order to get the required space for such a monumental project. The Italian architect Andrea Spezza almost finished all planned building work before his death in 1628. The whole construction was completed by his successor, Nicollo Sebregondi in 1630. Wallenstein Palace or in Czech Valdštejnský Palác is considered to be the first large-scale example of Prague Baroque secular architecture. This beautiful complex involves the Wallenstein Garden along with the Wallenstein Riding Hall. A lot of people were involved in the work – Czechs, Germans and Italians, and when insufficient, soldiers were drafted in. Many of them participated in the construction as suppliers. Once when Wallenstein realized that he had run out of lime he sent 200 musketeers to the Jewish Town to confiscate all necessary materials. But instead of lime the soldiers started to plunder and confiscate all the Jewish properties. Their behaviour led to a revolt by the local inhabitants so serious, that such a prominent ruler could not afford to ignore it leading him to deal with the plundering soldiers decisively.The inhabitants rewarded Wallenstein for his action and voluntarily gave him lime for construction of the building free of charge.

Maxmilian Of Wallenstein

When Wallenstein was not in Prague he entrusted his nephew Maximilian to take care of the Wallenstein palace. After Wallenstein’s death Maximilian became the owner of the palace. The construction works on the palace continued in several phases and this is the why it is possible to find renaissance features as well as features of Baroque art which came to Bohemia from Italy where it had been developed at that time. The palace was the property of the Wallenstein family up until 1945, after which the state took over the possession of the palace. Today it is used as a seat of the Senate of the Czech Republic.

Interiors

The interior has remained in the original Italian style. The ceremonial Knights’ Hall is decorated by a fresco painted by the well known Baccio del Bianco. This fresco represents Wallenstein as Mars, the god of war, riding a triumphal chariot. This beautiful hall rises to a height of two floors. Baccio del Bianca is also responsible for other great frescoes and stuccoes in other parts of the palace including the Wallenstein’s office, the Audience chamber and the Astronomical-astrological hallway.

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