Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
with the original 1910
American Bar
.
Several rooms on the second floor are given over to
temporary art exhibitions, while the building's
Smetanovasíň
, Prague's largest concert hall,
stages numerous concerts, including the opening salvo of the Pražské jaro (Prague Spring
Festival) - traditionally a rendition of Smetana's
Má vlast
(My Country) - with the president
in attendance.
For a more detailed inspection of the building's spectacular interior you can sign up for one
of the regular
guided tours
, in Czech and English, at the modern information centre on the
ground floor, beyond the main foyer. You get to see the Smetanova síň, plus several rooms
normally outofboundstothepublic.Highlights include thefolksy
Slováckýsalónek
,which
features a built-in aquarium decorated with gilded snails, the fountain in the mosaic-tiled re-
cessinthe
SalónekBoženyNěmcové
andtheMoorishsilkwallsandchandeliers ofthe
Ori-
entální salónek
. The Czechoslovak declaration of independence took place in 1918 in the
Sál Grégrův
, with its mediocre murals depicting the battle between the sexes. The finest
room of the lot, though, is the chapel-like
Primátorskýsál
, designed by Alfons Mucha, with
jewel-encrusted embroidered curtains, stained-glass windows and paintings on the pendent-
ives depicting civic virtues personified by leading figures from Czech history.
Hybernská
Metro Náměstí Republiky
Directly opposite the Obecní dům stands a haughty Neoclassical building,
U hybernů
(The
Hibernians), built as a customs office in the Napoleonic period, on the site of a Baroque
church that belonged to an order of Irish Franciscans who fled Tudor England (hence its
name) - it's currently a theatre. If you walk down
Hybernská
from here, you'll pass the Art
Nouveau
Hotel Central
on the right. Designed by Dryák and Bendelmayer, who built the
Grand Hotel Evropa
on Wenceslas Square, and dating from 1900, it boasts gilded decoration
that stands out amid its plainer nineteenth-century neighbours.
Lidový dům
Hybernská 7 •
cssd.cz
• Metro Náměstí Republiky
Theheadquartersofthecountry'smaincentre-leftpoliticalparty,theCzechSocialDemocrat-
icParty(ČSSD),the
Lidovýdům
isahugeBaroquepalacebuiltbythefamousCarloLurago
in the 1650s. The party acquired the building in 1907; in January 1912 a small backroom in
the building was given over to a congress of the exiled Russian Social Democratic Labour
Party (RSDLP) with
Lenin
himself in the chair. ČSSD was forcibly amalgamated with the
Communist Party shortly after the 1948 coup, after which the palace became the Lenin Mu-
seum, its facade decorated with scenes from Lenin's life. These were removed in 1990, and
when the party regained its independence it took over the Lidový dům once again.
Masarykovo nádraží
Havlíčkova 2 •
cd.cz
• Tram #5, #26 or #29 to Masarykovo nádraží
