Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
motifs and topped by a giant mosaic depicting Music - the motto beneath trans-
lates as 'Let the song reach the heart; let the heart reach the homeland'.
At the next bridge is
Jirásek Square
(Jiráskovo náměstí), dedicated to writer
Alois Jirásek (1851-1930), author of
Old Czech Legends
(studied by all Czech
schoolchildren) and an influential figure in the drive towards Czechoslovak inde-
pendence. His statue is overlooked by the famous Dancing Building (
CLICK
HERE
).
A little further along the riverbank is
Rašínovo nábřeží 78,
an apartment
building designed by the grandfather of ex-president Václav Havel - this was
where Havel first chose to live (in preference to Prague Castle) after being elec-
ted as president in December 1989, surely the world's least pompous presiden-
tial residence.
Two blocks south, on Palackého náměstí, is Stanislav Sucharda's extraordin-
Palackého náměstí);
a swarm of haunted bronze figures (allegories of the writer's
imagination) swirling around a stodgy statue of the 19th-century historian and gi-
ant of the Czech National Revival.
Charles Square & Around
SSQUARE
ARE
CHARLES SQUARE
(Karolovo náměstí; Karlovo náměstí)
With an area of more than seven hectares, Charles
Square is the city's biggest square; it's more like a small park, really, and was origin-
ally the city's cattle market. Presiding over it is the
Church of St Ignatius
designed for the Jesuits by Carlo Lurago.
The baroque palace at the southern end of the square belongs to Charles University.
náměstí 40)
because, according to a popular story, this house was where Mephisto took
Dr Faust away to hell through a hole in the ceiling, and because of associations with
