Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
is normally closed, but the interior can be viewed during mass (times are posted at the
30Kč; 9.30am-6pm Apr-Oct, to 5pm Nov-Mar; Vyšehrad)
houses a permanent exhibi-
tion called 'The Historic Faces of Vyšehrad', which focuses on both the myths and the
facts concerning the origins of Vyšehrad.
Ups & Downs
After Vladislav II moved the court back to Hradčany, Vyšehrad faded into the back-
ground for around two centuries. It took the reign of Charles IV, in the 14th century,
to recognise the complex's symbolic importance to the Czech nation. He repaired the
walls and joined them to those of his new town, Nové Město. He built a small palace
(now gone) and decreed that the coronations of Bohemian kings should begin with a
procession from here to Hradčany.
Vyšehrad; adult/child 30/10Kč; 9am-noon & 1-5pm Wed-Mon; Vyšehrad)
certainly looks
like it may have come from Charles IV's day, in fact the church has been built and re-
built several times over the centuries. The arresting twin spires are visible from
around the city and have become the symbol of Vyšehrad. They date from the end of
the 19th century and the brief architectural craze that gripped Prague at that time
known as neo-Gothic. Don't miss the church's interior: a swirling acid trip of art-nou-
veau frescoes painted in the 1920s by various Czech artists.
Unfortunately, nearly everything up here was wiped out during the Hussite Wars of
the 15th century. The fortress remained a ruin - except for a ramshackle township of
artisans and traders - until after the Thirty Years' War, which ended in 1648, when
Habsburg Emperor Leopold I once again refortified it.
A Baroque Fortress
While most Praguers, these days, associate Vyšehrad with the ancient founding of the
city around the first millennium, much of what you see today dates from more recent
times, when the fortress was used by the Austrian Habsburgs to secure their western
and northern borders from Prussian and French advances in the 17th and 18th centur-
ies. Both the French and the Prussians did occupy Vyšehrad for brief periods in the
mid-18th century and contributed to the citadel's development as a fort.
