Page 102 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Prague

100  PR A GUE AREA B Y AREA

1 Picture Gallery of by Prince Bořivoj, the first
Prague Castle Přemyslid prince to be bap-
Obrazárna Pražského Hradu tized a Christian (see pp22–3).
The site was discovered
Prague Castle, the second courtyard. during reconstruction.
Map 2 D2. Tel 224 373 531.
X Malostranská, Hradčanská.
v 22. Open 9am–5pm daily (Nov– 2 St Vitus’s
Mar: to 4pm). & 7 ∑ hrad.cz Cathedral
The gallery was created in 1965 Chrám Sv. Víta
to hold works of art collected See pp102–105.
since the reign of Rudolph II
(see pp30–31). Though most
of the collection was looted 3 Powder Tower
by the Swedes in 1648, many Prašná Věž
interesting paintings remain. Prague Castle, Vikářská. Map 2 D2.
Works from the 16th–18th Tel 224 372 434. X Malostranská,
centuries form the bulk of the Hradčanská. v 22. Open Apr–Oct:
collection, but there are also 9am–5pm daily; Nov–Mar: 9am–4pm
sculptures, among them a daily. & ^ 7
copy of a bust of Rudolph by
Adriaen de Vries. Highlights A tower was built here in about
include Titian’s The Toilet of 1496 by the King Vladislav II’s
a Young Lady, Rubens’ The architect Benedikt Ried as a
Assembly of the Olympic Gods cannon bastion overlooking
and Guido Reni’s The Centaur the Stag Moat. The original View of the Powder Tower from
Nessus Abducting Deianeira. was destroyed in the fire of across the Stag Moat
Master Theodoric, Paolo 1541, but it was rebuilt as
Veronese, Tintoretto and, the home and workshop of experiments that convinced
the Czech Baroque artists, gunsmith and bell founder the emperor they could turn
Jan Kupecký and Petr Brandl Tomáš Jaroš. In 1549, he lead into gold.
are among other artists made Prague’s largest bell, the In 1649, when the Swedish
represented. The Picture 18-tonne Sigismund, for the bell army was occupying the Castle,
Gallery houses many of tower of St Vitus’s Cathedral. gunpowder exploded in the
Rudolph’s best paintings. During Rudolph II’s reign tower, causing serious damage.
You can also see the remains (1576–1612), the tower became Nevertheless, it was used as a
of the Castle’s first church, the a laboratory for alchemists. It gunpowder store until 1754,
9th-century Church of our Lady, was here that adventurers such when it was converted into flats
thought to have been built as Edward Kelley performed for the sacristans of St Vitus’s
Cathedral. Today, the tower
houses a permanent exhibition
of Czech military history.

4 Old Royal Palace
Starý Královský Palác
See pp106–107.

5 St George’s
Basilica and
Convent
Bazilika Sv. Jiří
Jiřské náměstí. Map 2 E2. Tel 224 371
111. X Malostranská, Hradčanská.
v 22. Open Apr–Oct: 9am–5pm
daily; Nov–Mar: 9am–4pm daily.
& ^ 7 ∑ hrad.cz
Founded by Prince Vratislav
(915–21), the basilica pre-dates
St Vitus’s Cathedral and is the
Titian’s The Toilet of a Young Lady in the Picture Gallery of Prague Castle best-preserved Romanesque

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