Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Around250msouthoftheTančícídům,thebuildingsretreatforamomenttorevealStanislav
Sucharda's remarkable Art Nouveau
Palacký Monument
, dedicated to František Palacký,
the great nineteenth-century Czech historian, politician and nationalist. Like the Hus Monu-
ment, which was unveiled three years later, this mammoth project - fifteen years in the mak-
ing - had missed its moment by the time it was finally completed in 1912, and was met with
universal disfavour. The critics have mellowed over the years, and nowadays it's appreciated
for what it is - an energetic and inspirational piece of work. Ethereal bronze bodies, repres-
enting the worldofthe imagination, shootoutat all angles, contrasting sharply with the plain
stone mass of the plinth and below, the giant, grimly determined, seated figure of Palacký
himself, representing the real world.
Výtoň
Rašínovo nábřeží 412 • Tues-Sun 10am-6pm • 30Kč • 224 919 833 • Tram #3, #7 or #17 to Výtoň
If you continue along the embankment to the very southern edge of Nové Město you'll come
to a freestanding square building sunk below the level of the embankment. This is
Výtoň
, an
attractive, sixteenth-century former customs house that now houses a pub and, in the timber-
framed attic above it, a small
museum
telling the history of the Podskalí area - literally “un-
der the rocks”, or
vyšehrad
- with a model of the old embankment. There's also a fascinating
video of one of the last
voroplavba
(log rafts) to come down the Vltava before the river was
dammed in the 1950s.
Emauzy monastery and around
Vyšehradská 49 •
Cloisters
May-Sept Mon-Sat 11am-5pm; April & Oct Mon-Fri 11am-5pm; Nov-March
Mon-Fri 11am-2pm • 50Kč • 224 917 662,
emauzy.cz
• Metro Karlovo náměstí
Behind Palackého náměstí, the intertwined concrete spires of the
Emauzymonastery
are an
unusual modern addition to the Prague skyline. The monastery was one of the few important
historical buildings to be damaged in World War II, in this case by a stray Anglo-Americ-
an bomb. Charles IV founded the monastery for Croatian Benedictines, who used the Old
Slavonic liturgy (hence its Czech name, Klášter na Slovanech, or “Monastery at the Slavs”),
butaftertheBattleofBíláhoraitwashandedovertothemoremainstreamSpanishBenedict-
ines,whorenameditafterEmmaus.Thecloisters,containingsomepreciousGothicfrescoes,
are open to visitors.
Sv Jan Nepomucký na skalce (St John of Nepomuk on the Rock)
Vyšehradská • Services Sun 11am • Metro Karlovo náměstí
Rising up behind Emauzy is one of Kilian Ignaz Dientzenhofer's little gems, the
church of
sv Jan Nepomucký na skalce
, finished in the late 1730s and with a facade that displays the
plasticity of the Bavarian's Baroque style in all its glory. It's one of Prague's most pleas-
