Page 109 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Prague

PR A GUE C ASTLE AND HR ADČ AN Y  107

Plan and Cross Section VISITORS’ CHECKLIST
of Old Royal Palace
The cross section of the Practical Information
palace shows the three Prague Castle, third courtyard.
distinct levels of the building, Map 2 D2.
all constructed at different Tel 224 373 102.
Open Apr–Oct: 9am–5pm daily;
Upper times. The plan shows how Nov–Mar: 9am–4pm daily; last
floor Vladislav Hall dominates the adm: 1hr before closing.
entire palace structure. & ^ 7
Ground level
Lower
floor Transport
X Hradčanská, up K Brusce, then
All Saints’ Chapel was built by Peter Key to Old Royal Palace through the Royal Garden;
Parler for Charles IV. After the 1541 fire, Malostranská, left up Klárov, then
its vault had to be rebuilt and it was Romanesque and Early Gothic up Old Castle Steps. v 22 to
redecorated in the Baroque style. Late Gothic Prague Castle (Pražský hrad).
Rebuilt after 1541 fire
Baroque and later
1 Eagle Fountain 10 All Saint’s Chapel
2 Vestibule 11 Diet Hall
3 Green Chamber 12 Rider’s staircase
4 King’s Bedchamber 13 Court of Appeal
5 Romanesque tower 14 Palace courtyard
6 Vladislav Hall 15 Hall of the
7 Bohemian Chancellery Romanesque palace
8 Imperial Council 16 Old Land Rolls
Room steps 17 Palace of Charles IV
9 Terrace 18 New Land Rolls

The Theresian
Way was built to
house the office
registers. Defenestration of 1618

Bohemian
Chancellery
This 17th-century
Dutch-style stove
decorates the
former royal offices
of the Habsburgs.
The chancellery
is the site of the
1618 defenestration.

Painting by Václav Brožík, 1889
On 23 May 1618, more than 100 Protestant
nobles, led by Count Thurn, marched into the
palace to protest against the succession to the
throne of the intolerant Habsburg Archduke
Ferdinand. The two Catholic Governors appointed
by Ferdinand, Jaroslav Martinic and Vilém Slavata,
were confronted and, after a row, the Protestants
threw both the Governors and their secretary,
Philipp Fabricius, out of the eastern window.
Falling some 15 m (50 ft), they survived by
landing in a dung heap. This event signalled
the beginning of the Thirty Years’ War. The
The New Land Rolls Catholics attributed the survival of the
These rooms are decorated with the crests of clerks who Governors to the intervention of angels.
worked here from 1561 to 1774.

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