Hradcany - The Rough Guide to Prague - page 68

For great views over the castle and the city, climb the gruelling 287 steps of the Great
Tower (věž), the entrance to which is in the south aisle.
The third courtyard
TheHrad's thirdcourtyard (třetínádvoří)isripewithexamplesofPacassi'stediousplaster-
craft and cookie-cutter windows. Here Plečnik's granite monolith is, in fact, a stunted and
unfinished obelisk, originally designed to complement the granite bowl in the Jižní zahrady
(South Gardens). Close by is a replica fourteenth-century bronze statue and fountain, ex-
ecuted by a couple of Transylvanian Saxon sculptors, depicting a diminutive St George
astride a disturbingly large horse (actually two hundred years younger than the rest of the en-
semble), slaying an extremely puny dragon - the original is in Old Royal Palace .
Also in the third courtyard is Parler's Zlatá brána (Golden Gate), decorated with a re-
markablefourteenth-centurymosaicoftheLastJudgement,whichhasbeenrestoredtoreveal
something of its original, rich colouring - it remains to be seen how it fares in Prague's pol-
luted atmosphere. For the moment, you can clearly see the angels helping the dead out of
their tombs, and the devils dragging off the wicked by a golden rope towards the red flames
of Hell. On the opposite side of the courtyard is Plečnik's Bull Staircase , which leads down
to the Jižní zahrady, or South Gardens .
Starý královský palác (Old Royal Palace)
Daily: April-Oct 9am-5pm; Nov-March 9am-3pm • Accessible only with Prague Castle tickets
On the east side of the castle's third courtyard, just across from the cathedral's Zlatá brána,
the Starýkrálovskýpalác was home to the princes and kings of Bohemia from the eleventh
to the sixteenth century. It's a multitiered sandwich of royal apartments, built one on top of
theotherbysuccessive generations, butleftlargelyunfurnishedandunusedforthepastthree
centuries.TheoriginalRomanesquepalaceofSoběslavInowformsthecellarsofthepresent
building, above which Charles IV built his own Gothic chambers; these days you enter at the
third and top floor, built at the end of the fifteenth century.
Vladislavský sál (Vladislav Hall)
Immediately beyond the antechamber is the bare expanse of the cavernous Vladislavskýsál ,
the work of Benedikt Ried. Thought to have been the world's largest secular indoor space
whennewlybuiltin1502,itdisplayssomeremarkable,sweepingribvaultingthatformsflor-
alpatternsontheceiling,thepetalsreachingalmosttothefloor.ItwasherethattheearlyBo-
hemian kings were elected, and since 1918 every president from Masaryk onwards has been
sworn into office in the hall. In medieval times, the space was also the backdrop for balls,
banquets, markets, feasts and jousting tournaments, which explains the ramp-like Riders'
Staircase in the north wing (now the exit). At the far end of the hall, to the right, there's
an outdoor viewing platform (closed in winter), from which you can enjoy one of the best
viewsacrossthecity.Youcanalsolookdownontothechapelof Všechsvatých ,whichParler