Staromestské námestí (Old Town Square)

Staromestské námestí (Old Town Square) Review

The hype about Old Town Square is completely justified. Picture a perimeter of colorful baroque houses contrasting with the sweeping old-Gothic style of the Týn church in the background. The unexpectedly large size gives it a majestic presence as it opens up from feeder alleyways. As the heart of Old Town, the square grew to its present proportions when Prague's original marketplace moved away from the river in the 12th century. Its shape and appearance have changed little since that time. During the day the square pulses with activity, as musicians vie for the attention of visitors milling about. In summer the square's south end is dominated by sprawling outdoor restaurants. During the Easter and Christmas seasons it fills with wooden booths of vendors selling everything from simple wooden toys to fine glassware and mulled wine. At night the brightly lighted towers of the Týn church rise gloriously over the glowing baroque façades.

But the square's history is not all wine and music: During the 15th century the square was the focal point of conflict between Czech Hussites and German Catholics. In 1422 the radical Hussite preacher Jan Zelivský was executed here for his part in storming the New Town's town hall three years earlier. In the 1419 uprising three Catholic consuls and seven German citizens were thrown out the window—the first of Prague's many famous defenestrations. Within a few years the Hussites had taken over the town, expelled the Germans, and set up their own administration.

Twenty-seven white crosses embedded in the square's paving stones, at the base of Old Town Hall, mark the spot where 27 Bohemian noblemen were killed by the Austrian Hapsburgs in 1621 during the dark days following the defeat of the Czechs at the Battle of White Mountain. The grotesque spectacle, designed to quash any further national or religious opposition, took about five hours to complete, as the men were put to the sword or hanged one by one.

One of the most interesting houses on Old Town Square juts out into the small extension leading into Malé námestí. Trimmed with elegant cream-color 16th-century Renaissance sgraffiti of biblical and classical motifs, the house, called U Minuty, was the young Franz Kafka's home in the 1890s. 2 Staromestské nám., Staré Mesto, 110 00.