Old Town Hall

Lonely Planet review

Prague's Old Town Hall, founded in 1338, is a hotch-potch of medieval buildings presided over by a tall Gothic tower, acquired piecemeal over the years by a town council that was short of funds. Most notable is House at the Minute (dům U minuty), the arcaded building on the corner covered with Renaissance sgraffito - Franz Kafka lived here (1889-96) as a child just before the building was bought for the town hall.

History hangs heavy here. A plaque on the town hall's eastern face lists the 27 Protestant nobles beheaded in 1621 after the Battle of Bílá Hora; white crosses on the ground mark where the deed was done. Another plaque commemorates a critical WWII victory by Red Army and Czechoslovak units at Dukla Pass in Slovakia, and yet another the Czech partisans who died during the Prague Rising on 8 May 1945. If you look at the neogothic eastern gable, you can see that its right-hand edge is broken - the wing that once extended north from here was blown up by the Nazis in 1945, on the day before the Soviet army marched into the city.

This is one of the most crowded corners of Old Town Square, especially during the hourly show put on by the town hall's splendid Astronomical Clock . You can see the interior workings, including parade of Apostles from behind the scenes, by buying a ticket for the Gothic chapel. Apart from the clock, the town hall's best feature is the view from the 60m-tall tower, which is certainly worth the climb. There's a lift that allows access for wheelchair users.