1995
Prague
Charles Bridge (Karlův Most)
Until 1741, Charles Bridge was the only crossing of the Vltava. It is 1,706 feet long and was commissioned by Charles IV in 1357.
St. John Nepomuk
Dating from 1683, a number of reliefs on the bridge depict
the martyrdom of St.
John Nepomuk.
The saint is polished bright from people touching it for good luck.
Old Town Square (Staroměstské Náměstí)
The square contains many houses of Romanesque
or Gothic
origin. On the left, the Štorch House, a Neo-Renaissance
building, is decorated with a late 19th century painting of St.
Wenceslas on horseback by Mikuláš Aleš.
Town Hall Astronomical Clock (Orloj)
The mechanism of this clock was perfected by Jan Táborský between 1552 and 1572.
Detail from the calendar by Josef Mánes created in
1866. From the inside out is
the Old Town coat of arms, zodiac signs, month signs and days of the year.
St. Vitus's Cathedral (Chrám Sv. Víta)
Work began on the cathedral in 1344 on the orders of Charles
IV. The first architect was the French Matthew of Arras,
after whose death, Swabian Peter
Parler took over. Finally completed by architects and artists of the
19th and
20th centuries, the cathedral houses the crown jewels and the tomb of "Good
King" Wenceslas.
This relief decorates St. Vitus's Golden Portal.
Clam-Gallas Palace (Clam-Gallasův Palác)
The Clam-Gallas Palace
designed in the Baroque
style by Viennese court architect Johannes
Bernhard Fischer von Erlach,
was built between 1713 and 1730 for the Supreme Marshal of Bohemia,
Jan Gallas de Campo. Each
portal is flanked by pairs of muscular Hercules
sculpted by Matthias Braun.
The Loreto (Loreta)
Constructed in 1626, the Loreto was commissioned by Kateřina
of Lobkowicz, a Czech
aristocrat who was anxious to promote the legend of Santa
Casa of Loreto.
Strahov Monastery (Strahovský Klášter)
Originally founded in 1140 by an austere
religious order, the Premonstratensians,
Strahov was rebuilt in the
Gothic
style with later Baroque
additions, after being destroyed by fire in 1258. The Philosophical Hall
ceiling fresco
depicts the Struggle of Mankind to Know Real History by Franz
Maulbertsch. The Hall was built in 1782 to hold
the Baroque
bookcases and books from a dissolved monastery near Louka, in Moravia.