Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
At the end of Hybernská, a wrought-iron canopy held up by slim green pillars marks the en-
trance to Prague's second oldest train station,
Masarykovo nádraží
. Opened in 1845, it's
a modest, almost provincial affair compared with the opulent Art Nouveau Praha hlavní
nádraží,manyofitsoriginalfeaturessurvivingintact.KnownasPrahastředduringtheCom-
munist decades, it was renamed after Czechoslovakia's first president in 1990 - his bust ad-
orns the wall on the left as you enter. Despite plans to modernize, the station retains a post-
Communist feel, its casino, dirt-cheap bakeries and gooey coffee machines all firmly still in
place.
Jindříšská věž
Jindřišská • Daily 10am-6pm • 90Kč • 224 232 429,
jindrisskavez.cz
• Metro Můstek
South of Masarykovo nádraží, down Dlážděná, is the old hay market,
Senovážné náměstí
,
cluttered with parked cars and a couple of bits of sculpture. Its most distinguished feature
is the
Jindříšská věž
, the freestanding fifteenth-century belfry of the nearby
church of sv
Jindřich
(St Henry), whose digitally controlled, high-pitched bells ring out every fifteen
minutesandplayanentiremedleyeveryfourhours.Incontrasttoeveryothersurvivingtower
in Prague, the Jindříšská věž has been imaginatively and expensively restored and now con-
tains a café, restaurant, shop, exhibition space and, on the fourth floor, small
museum
on
Prague's hundred-plus towers, with a good view across the city's rooftops.
Jubilejní synagoga (Jubilee synagogue)
Jeruzalémská 7 • April-Oct Sun-Fri 11am-5pm • 80Kč or combined
ticket
with Josefov sights • Metro Hlavní
nádraží
The
Jubilejní synagoga
, a short way up Jeruzalémská from Senovážné náměstí, was named
in honour of the fiftieth year of Emperor Franz-Joseph I's reign in 1908. Built in a colourful
Moorish style similar to that of the Španělská synagoga in Josefov, but with a touch of Art
Nouveau, the synagogue is definitely worth the thirty-minute guided tour. The Hebrew quote
from Malachi on the facade strikes a note of liberal optimism: “Do we not have one father?
Were we not created by the same God?”
Na poříčí
Metro Náměstí Republiky/Florenc
Running roughly parallel with Hybernská, to the north of Masarykovo nádraží, is the much
busierstreetof
Napoříčí
,anareathat,likesvHavelinStaréMěsto,wasoriginallysettledby
German merchants. As a lively shopping street, Na poříčí seems very much out on a limb, as
