Golden Lane

Golden Lane is a picturesque, cobbled alley running along the northern wall of the castle. Its tiny, colourful cottages were built in the 16th century for the sharpshooters of the castle guard, but were later used by goldsmiths. In the 18th and 19th centuries they were occupied by squatters, and then by artists, including the writer Franz Kafka (who stayed at his sister’s house at No 22 from 1916 to 1917) and the Nobel-laureate poet Jaroslav Seifert. Today, the lane is an overcrowded tourist trap lined with craft and souvenir shops. At its eastern end is the Daliborka, a round tower named after the knight Dalibor of Kozojedy, imprisoned here in 1498 for supporting a peasant rebellion, and later executed. During his imprisonment, according to an old tale, he played a violin that could be heard throughout the castle. Composer Bedřich Smetana based his 1868 opera Dalibor on the tale. More interesting than the small display of torture instruments in the tower is the modern bronze sculpture Parable with a Skull, by Jaroslav Róna (who also created the Franz Kafka Monument in Josefov). Supposedly inspired by one of Kafka’s characters, it shows a prostrate human figure bearing a giant skull on its back (you can still see homeless people in Prague begging in this traditional but submissive and rather despairing posture).