Exploring Prague’s Old Town Square.

Prague is a fascinating, beautiful city, filled with interesting sights and stories. The best way to explore the city is walking through town with a local guide. Be it the Castle District, Old Town or the famous Jewish District, the local guides add a lot to your experience. However, sooner or later the walking tour ends and you are on your own. One of my favorite locations to end a walking tour is old town square.

Located about halfway from Wenceslas Square and Charles Bridge, Old Town Square is the historic center of Prague and the perfect location to start exploring the old town of Prague. The square itself boasts several sights, the most famous of which is the Old Town Hall and its Astronomical Clock.

Woodcut of Prague from the Nuremberg Chronicle 1493 Public Domain,
Michel Wolgemut, Wilhelm Pleydenwurff (Text: Hartmann Schedel) – Self-scanned

History

Prague developed around settlements and markets along the river Vlatva, that records show, goes back as far as the 9^th century. The Old Town and its square were the focus of a market held every Saturday since the 1100 AD. The trade brought wealth and attracted business from other parts of the Holy Roman Empire.

In the years that followed, merchants came and settled, and the town grew. Slowly, the city developed, and records show it became a large, well defended, town with walls, 13 gates and a huge moat.  In the 13^th Century, King Wenceslaus I of Bohemia gave Prague Town privileges. With that, the unofficial town centered around the marketplace, became the Town of Prague

Old Town Hall

It is hard to be precise when we try to date the building of Prague’s old Town Hall. The original building, home of the Volfin family, was bought by the town councilors in 1338. In the centuries since then, several other nearby houses were incorporated into the building. This meshing of different buildings as well as additions and renovations gives the Town hall its unique look but also makes it impossible to date with any accuracy.

Astronomical Clock

The most famous feature of the Old Town Hall is the Astronomical Clock. Many tales have surrounded the clock. Probably the best known is the tale of Hanuš.  The story claims that Hanuš, having built the clock, had been blinded by the city councilors to make sure he could not build another clock for someone else. In revenge, Hanuš disabled the clock and no one could repair it for over 100 years.

The evidence suggests otherwise. First mentioned in texts in October 1410, the clock was, in fact, built by Mikulas of Kadan and Jan Sindel,  mathematicians of note at the time. The lower calendar face and sculptures were added around 80 years later.

Of particular note, as well as showing us the time, the original clock face shows the movement of the sun through the zodiac. In addition, the movement of the moon and its phase is represented.

Every hour, In the two windows above the clock, the twelve apostles appear and parade past the windows. Just below, four figures move when the clock strikes. They represent the least desirable aspects of man at the time the clock was built. From left to right, Vanity, Greed, Death and Lust. When death rings his bell, the three others shake their heads to say they don’t want to go yet.

Below the main clock face, a second face was added. This is the calendar representing the 365 days of the year and the saint’s days associated with them. In the circle you can see a representation of the months and the corresponding zodiac signs.

Aqwis, CC BY-SA 3.0

Jan Hus Monument

More or less in the center of the square, you will find the Jan Huss Memorial. This monument, primarily dedicated to Jan Hus, a religious reformer in Prague. Hus was, in essence, an early protestant thinker. Inspired by John Wycliffe, his works criticized the moral decay of the church and promoted holding mass in the local language rather than Latin. Arrested and condemned by the Council of Constance, he was burned at the stake in 1415.

Unveiled in 1915, this huge work shows, apart from Hus himself, Hussite warriors and Protestants that were sent into exile after the Battle of White Mountain fought on the 8, November 1620. The battle was a campaign to put down the Bohemian Revolt. At White Mountain, now a suburb of Prague, an army of 15,000 men under Christian von Anhalt,. tried to stop the Holy Roman Emperor’s armies entering the city to put down the Bohemian revolt.

The famous revolt started when protestants of Bohemia, that had been granted various degrees of religious freedom, felt that these freedoms were being violated by the Holy Roman Emperor and his representatives. In May 1618, noblemen and representatives of the crown met in Prague castle. The fraught meeting ended when two of the representatives of the crown and their scribe were thrown out of a castle window, in what became known as the Defenestration of Prague. This act of disobedience is largely seen as the beginning of the thirty years war.

After the battle, 27 Czech leaders were executed by the Habsburgs in the Old Town square on the 21 of June 1621. The executions famously took different forms. Varying for the perceived crimes from hanging and beheading, to quartering and impaling. The headless bodies were handed over to their families for burial and the heads were displayed from the Tower of the Old Town Bridge for 10 years. A memorial to the ‘Martyrs’ consisting of 27 crosses in the pavement, can be found in front of the Old Town hall.

Church of Our Lady before Tyn

Built during the 14^th century, with two 260 foot (80 meter) high towers famously topped by eight small spires on top, this Gothic church is an imposing feature of the square. Although the church served as a Hussite church for the best part of 200 years, little evidence of that time remains.  The interior today mainly reflects the Baroque period after 1600.

However, if you are interested, many of the original gothic features have survived the test of time. These include a stone canopy from 1493, and an altar with a wood carving of Christ’s baptism, as well as the oldest and largest baptistry in Prague.

Church of St Nicholas

This late gothic church was built between 1732 and 1737, in the same location as a church also dedicated to St Nicholas. This is the main church of the Czechoslovak Hussite Church today. Today, tourists admire its pretty baroque interior which is often used for concerts. Little do they know, that in world War II, the church was the hidden site of Radio Prague during the 1945 Prague uprising, when in the last days of the war Czech citizens spontaneously attacked the German occupying force. The uprising started on the 5^th of May and ended when the Red Army entered the city on the 9^th of May.

Rémi Diligent, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Kinsky Palace

Built between 1755 and 1765 in the Rococo style by the Golz family, Franz Kafka’s father, famously had his haberdashery store on the ground floor of this palace. It is also, in this building, that Franz Kafka attended secondary school. Today, this beautiful palace houses an art museum and the administration of the national gallery.

By Murko,  CC BY-SA 3.0, Link

Why not try a Trdelník while you’re here?

The authenticity of Trdelník as a Czech pastry is something of a debate. In the 19^th century,  Trdelník was seen as a Slovak dish, but it became more of a Moravian dish during the 20^th century. However, similar pastries are seen throughout the former Austro-Hungarian Empire under various names.

The name of the pastry comes from the wooden roll the pastry is wrapped around to cook it. This results in a hollow pastry that is traditionally eaten without a filling. After the Velvet Revolution, street vendors in Prague started offering these treats to tourists, and stalls can be seen selling them all over town.

Ever since I have been coming to Prague, they have been a part of the landscape and it would be a shame to miss out trying them. If it is a true Czech tradition, or not, seems beside the point. Trdelník tastes good and transports well. Take a piece with you as you wander around town and nibble a piece from time to time.