Page 678 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Europe

676  CENTR AL AND EASTERN EUROPE

2 Old Royal Palace
Prague Castle, third courtyard. Tel 22
43 73 102. q Malostranská. v 22.
Open daily. & 7 ∑ hrad.cz
From the time Prague Castle
was first fortified in stone in the
11th century, the Royal Palace
was the seat of a long line of
Bohemian kings.
The building consists of three
different architectural layers.
A Romanesque palace, built
around 1135, forms the
basement of the present
structure. Over the next 200
years, two further palaces were
built above this – the first by The distinctive red facade of St. George’s Basilica
Přemysl Otakar II in 1253, and
the second by Charles IV in 3 St. George’s It is considered to be one of the
1340. On the top floor is the Basilica and best preserved Renaissance
massive Gothic Vladislav Hall, Convent buildings in Prague. Its facades
with its splendid rib vaulting. are decorated with black and
Designed for King Vladislav Prague Castle, Jiřské náměstí. Tel 22 43 white scraffitto dating back to
Jagiello, it was completed in 72 434. q Malostranská. v 22. 1580; inside, preserved ceilings
1502. The Riders’ Staircase, just Open daily. & 7 ∑ hrad.cz have valuable examples of
off the hall, is a flight of steps Renaissance figurative painting.
with a magnificent Gothic rib- St. George’s Basilica was The palace houses the National
vaulted ceiling. It was used founded by Prince Vratislav in Gallery permanent exhibition,
by knights on horseback to 920. Enlarged in 973 and rebuilt Baroque Art in Bohemia. Sculp-
get to jousting contests. following a fire in 1142, it is the ture and paintings from the late
Under Habsburg rule, the best-preserved Romanesque Renaissance and Baroque periods
palace housed government church in Prague. The huge twin include Petr Brandl’s Simeon and
offices, courts, and the old towers and austere interior have the Infant Jesus (1725) and works
Bohemian parliament. The been restored to give an idea of by Matyáš Bernard Braun and
Bohemian Chancellery, the the church’s original appearance. Ferdinand Maximilián Brokof.
former royal offices of the However, the rusty red facade is
Habsburgs, is the site of the a 17th-century Baroque 5 Golden Lane
famous 1618 defenestration addition. Buried in the church
(see p675). In 1619, the Bohemian is St Ludmila, who became q Malostranská. v 22. Open daily.
nobles deposed Emperor Bohemia’s first female Christian & ∑ hrad.cz
Ferdinand II as King of Bohemia, martyr when she was strangled
electing in his place Frederick as she knelt at prayer. Through- Named after the goldsmiths
of the Palatinate. This led to out the Middle Ages, the who lived here in the 17th
the first major battle of the convent and the basilica formed century, this is one of the most
Thirty Years’ War. the heart of the castle complex. picturesque streets in Prague.
The adjacent former The tiny, brightly painted
Benedictine nunnery is the oldest houses that line one side of it
convent building in Bohemia. It were built in the late 1500s for
was founded in 973 by Princess Rudolph II’s castle guards. A
Mlada, sister of Boleslav II. century later, the goldsmiths
moved in. By the 19th century,
4 Schwarzenberg the area had degenerated
Palace into a slum, populated by
Prague’s poor and the criminal
Prague Castle, Hradčanské náměstí 2. community. In the 1950s, the
Tel 23 30 81 713. q Malostranská. v area was restored to something
22. Open daily. & 7 - like its original state, and most
∑ ngprague.cz of the houses were converted
into shops selling books,
Built in the 16th century for the Bohemian glass, and other
Count of Lobcowicz, the noble souvenirs for the tourists who
The Riders’ Staircase leading to the Schwarzenberg family acquired flock here. Golden Lane has
Vladislav Hall, Royal Palace the palace in 1719 by marriage. been home to a number of
For hotels and restaurants see p688 and p689

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