Prague Castle travel guide

Historic Splendor and the Most Beautiful Stained Glass Windows in Prague

Along with Charles Bridge and Josefov , Prague Castle (Pražský hrad, in Hradčany) is one of the city’s main attractions. Since 1918 it has been the official seat of the president of the republic.Prague Castle was founded in the late 9th century by the Přemyslids as a three-part wooden stronghold surrounded by an embankment. St Wenceslas had a Romanesque rotunda built in honour of St Vitus on the spot where the Wenceslas Chapel stands today.In addition to the prince, from 973 the bishop of the newly founded diocese of Prague resided in the castle. Under Břetislav I, in 1042, it was enclosed by a wall 2m/6.6ft thick; at the east and west ends, towers were built, and later on a gate was added on the south side. After 1135, Sobieslav I expanded the castle into an imperial palace in Romanesque style. The 30m/100ft Black Tower served as prison. Work began on the central part of the former royal palace under Otokar II. After the end of the Hussite Wars, alterations were made under the Jagiellonian rulers and under King Vladislav (from 1471) and King Ludvík II (from 1516). In these phases the first Renaissance elements came into existence, combined with late Gothic. Both Ferdinand I (emperor from 1556), who brought artists from Italy, the Netherlands and Germany to Prague, and Rudolf II enriched the castle and its immediate surroundings with magnificent Renaissance buildings. A great fire in 1541 necessitated further renovations. In 1614 Emperor Matthias commissioned the first secular Baroque building in Prague, the free-standing gate-tower to the west. In the 18th century, at Maria Theresa’s behest, this tower was incorporated into the building that framed the newly laid out first courtyard. This alteration made Prague Castle into an architectural whole, a distinctive feature anchored in the cityscape of Prague. After the coup d’etat of 1918 and the liberation of 1945, Prague Castle was adapted for ceremonial and cultural purposes.

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spacegirl

Make sure it's open before you go. We climbed that killer hill only to discover it was closed for a state visit.

2009-07-01 / follow spacegirl / report abuse