Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
centennial exhibition (the 1891 exhibition is remembered by the
Little Quarter's Eiffel-esque Petřín Tower), and partly to send the
message that for every power, there's a time to go.
Spin to the right, past the Hus Memorial and the fine yellow
Art Nouveau building. The large Rococo palace on the right (with
a public WC in the courtyard) is part of the
National Gallery
and
will exhibit Asian art—particularly Chinese and Japanese works—
when it opens in May 2009 (Tue-Sun 10:00-18:00, closed Mon).
To the right, you can't miss the towering, Gothic
Týn Church
(pronounced “teen”), with its fanciful spires flanking the gold bas-
relief of Mary. For 200 years after Hus'
death, this was Prague's leading Hussite
church (described in more detail on page
58). A narrow lane leading to the church's
entrance passes the
Via Musica,
the most
convenient ticket office in town (see page
143). Behind the Týn Church is a gor-
geously restored medieval courtyard called
Ungelt
(see page 58). The row of pastel
houses in front of Týn Church has a mix-
ture of Gothic, Renaissance, and Baroque
facades. To the right of these buildings,
shop-lined
Celetná street
leads to a square
called Ovocný Trh (with the Estates Theatre and Museum of
Czech Cubism—see page 60), and beyond that, to the Municipal
House and Powder Tower in the New Town (see pages 83-84).
Continue spinning right—with more gloriously colorful
architecture—until you reach the pointed 250-foot-tall spire mark-
ing the 14th-century
Old Town Hall
(which has the only elevator-accessible
tower in town—described later in this
chapter). The chunk of pink building
attached to the tower of the Neo-Gothic
City Hall is the town's memorial to bad
losers. The building once stretched all
the way to the Church of St. Nicholas.
Then, in the last days of World War II
(May 1945), German tanks knocked
of this landmark—to the joy of many
Prague citizens who considered it an
ugly, oversized 19th-century stain on the
medieval square. Across the square from
the Old Town Hall (opposite the Astronomical Clock), touristy
Melantrichova
street
leads directly to the New Town's Wenceslas
Square (see page 75), passing the craft-packed Havelská Market
(see page 61) along the way.
