![]() The fountain is called Vltava, after the Prague’s River, and shows a lovely topless maid pouring our two jugs of water. On the Southwest corner of City Hall is another large dark statue depicting Rabbi Loew who infamous in folklore for creating the Golem to protect Prague’s Jewish community.īefore continuing around Town Hall, make sure to visit the small fountain on the back side of the neighboring Clam-Gallas Palace as it is considered the most beautiful sculpture in Prague. To us, the Iron Knight statue looks a lot like Darth Vader from the Star Wars series. Legend has it that the Knight stabbed a young lady who did not want him and as she died, she cursed him to turn to iron. Our favorite statue is the dark, larger than life one of the Northwest corner of the building called the Iron Knight. The building may be the main seat of city government in Prague and Mayor’s office, but it’s a couple of the exterior sculpture that matter to us. Today’s New City Hall was built from 1908-11 in a classic Art Nouveau-style decorated by dozens of statues. After Joseph II’s reforms in the 1780s closed one-third of all the monasteries in the Holy Roman Empire, Mary’s Church was abandoned and later demolished in 1791. It’s said that locals nicknamed the church Mary on the Puddle because of flood waters that frequented the square. In the 1100s a sizeable Romanesque-style church dedicated to the Virgin Mary was built here surrounded by a cemetery. ![]() Library Website: ( HERE).Ībout New City Hall: The large New City Hall, with its beautiful facade, sits in the middle of Virgin Mary Square which has deep roots back to Medieval times. Cost: Adults 300 CZK Student & Senior 200 CZK Kids 6 and under Free Skip The Line Pass 380 CZK. Guided Tours: Tours last 50 minutes and leave every 30 minutes with a maximum of 22 guests at a time. It is called The Girl with Paper Swallow and was added as part of an exhibition in 2006.Ĭlementinum Hours: January-March 10am-4:30pm April-October 10am-7pm November-December 10am-6pm. If you happen to be coming from Charles Bridge make sure to look up and find the statue of the nude girl sitting on a ledge holding a bird. Just 50 years after the last expansion of the Clementinum the Jesuits were forced out of Prague in 1773, but the Clementinum still survives as Prague University and National Library.Įven if you are pressed for time, the Clementinum is worth every minute to see the amazing National Library Hall. If you are willing to manage its 172 stairs, the Astronomical Tower offers unique views of Old Town Prague, and it also holds the world record for the longest continuous recording of daily temperature. The Library and its amazing ceilings are still one of the most beautiful libraries in the world. Empress Maria Theresa even fell in love with the Jesuit complex and helped to further expand it in 1722 to include a 170-foot-tall Astronomical Tower and the gorgeous Baroque-style National Library Hall. The most famous of these thinkers arrived in 1619 when German mathematician Johannes Kepler used the Clementinum’s observatory come up with his Laws of Planetary Motion. The Jesuit College grew so fast in the 1600s that it quickly grew from just 1 book to over 20,000 books and attracted many great thinkers. ![]() ![]() Charles University merged with the Jesuit College and quickly became the 2nd largest building complex in town behind Prague Castle. The growing school was promoted to a University in 1622 which led to considerable expansions in the 1650s. In 1556, Jesuits monks moved into the monastery and founded a school. Back in the 11th Century, the Dominican Order of Monks began to build a small monastery here beginning with the Chapel of Saint Clement. About The Clementinum: Sitting between Charles Bridge and the core of Old Town, the stunning National Library is the perfect place to start our free Prague walking tour.
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