Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Staré Město, literally “Old Town”, is the historic heart of the city and second only to
the Hrad in tourism terms. Its intricate and often confusing web of narrow lanes ra-
diates medieval charm, though the occasional tour group bottlenecks lessen the effect
somewhat. Despite the crowds, however, there are still plenty of residential areas and
quietbackstreetsinwhichtoescapeanddiscoverhiddenarchitecturalgems.AttheOld
Town'sheartisStaroměstskénáměstí,Prague'sshowpiecemainsquare,easilythemost
magnificent inEastern Europe.Andlinking theareatoMaláStranaisCharles Bridge,
surely one of Europe's most impressive medieval structures, which has spanned the of-
ten fickle Vltava for more than six hundred years.
While exploring Staré Město, most visitors unknowingly retrace the
králová cesta
, the tra-
ditional route of the coronation procession from the medieval gateway, the
Prašná brána
,
to
theHrad.EstablishedbythePřemyslids,theroutewasfollowed,withafewminorvariations,
by every king until the Emperor Ferdinand IV in 1836, the last of the Habsburgs to bother
having himself crowned in Prague.
Merchants and craftsmen began settling in what is now Staré Město as early as the tenth
century,andinthemid-thirteenthcenturyitwasgrantedtownstatus,withjurisdictionoverits
ownaffairs.DuringtheCounter-Reformation,thevictoriousCatholicnoblesbuiltfewerlarge
palaces here than on the left bank, leaving the medieval street plan intact with the exception
of the Klementinum (the Jesuits' powerhouse) and the Jewish Quarter,
Josefov
, which was
largely reconstructed in the late nineteenth century. Like so much of Prague, however, Staré
Město is still, on the surface, overwhelmingly Baroque, built literally on top of its Gothic
predecessor to guard against the floods that plagued the town.
