Prague´s fairytale architecture will blow your mind

Photo: Steve Woodhall

Prague, known as the City of Spires, is one of the prettiest cities in the world. If you love architecture, this could well be the city to blow your mind.

While World War II played havoc with Czech life – and 80,000 Jews were murdered – the buildings, layer upon layer upon layer of European architectural styles, escaped relatively unscathed. Then after World War II, 40 years of communism saved the city from the ravages of capitalist development so that today, much of the city looks more or less as it did at the end of the nineteenth century. The development that has occurred since 1989 is mostly very tasteful.

Okay, pack your camera, get your walking shoes on, and get ready to roam, looking up at the extraordinary detail in just about every facade. Starting in the Old Town (Stare Mesto), head off in the direction of the Charles Bridge (in Czech, Karluv most) over the Vltava River. This pedestrian bridge is decorated on each side with statues of saints including St. John of Nepomuck who was, according to legend, thrown off the bridge by King Wenceslas IV.

At the other end of the bridge, in Little Town (Mala Strana), you’ll be funneled by signs and the tide of humanity in the direction of the fairytale Prague Castle (Hradcany). Have fun finding the Golden Lane, complete with tiny houses built for vertically challenged tradesmen. Franz Kafka lived in one of these for a while.

If you cross back over the Vltava at the Legii Bridge (Most legii), you’ll find yourself at the ornate golden-topped National Theatre (Narodni Divadlo) where you can take in Czech and international opera, ballet and theatre. Across the road, there’s the famed art nouveau Slavia Cafe.

Not far away you’ll find Wenceslas Square (Vaclavske Namesti), the nearest thing Prague has to a CBD and the main venue for the Velvet Revolution. This is where you’ll find fast food outlets and casinos and a multi-storey Tesco supermarket. Not far from the Tesco end of the Wenceslas Square there’s the utterly charming, but tourist-packed, Old Town Square (Staromestske namesti). This is where you’ll find the famous astronomical clock. If you are there just before the hour, you’ll find a crowd gathering in anticipation, waiting for the Walk of the Apostles, little figures that come out for a few seconds and disappear again before you really get a good look at them.

If you do these things (try to schedule at least a couple of days) you’ll have scratched the very thinnest outer layer of the surface of this extraordinary old city. If you can stay longer, you’ll be richly rewarded.