Sights in Prague
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Picture Gallery
In 1648 an invading Swedish army looted Emperor Rudolf II's art collection (as well as making off with the original bronze statues in the Wallenstein Garden). These converted Renaissance stables house what was left plus replacement works, including some by Rubens, Tintoretto and Titian.
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Spanish Synagogue
The Spanish Synagogue is named after its striking Moorish-Andalucian interior. Dating from 1868, its exhibition records the story of Jews in the Czech Republic from emancipation to the present day. It's one of the six Jewish monuments that make up the Prague Jewish Museum.
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Viselec (David Černý Sculpture)
Here's more inspired madness from artist David Černý. Look up as you walk along Husova street; you'll see a bearded, bespectacled chap not unlike Sigmund Freud casually dangling by one hand from a pole way above the street.
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Peček Palace
This gloomy neo-Renaissance palace served as the wartime headquarters of the Gestapo. A memorial on the corner of the building honours the many Czechs who were tortured and executed in the basement detention cells. Today, it is home to the Ministry of Trade & Industry.
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National Technical Museum
Prague’s most family-friendly museum finally reopened its doors in 2011 after a multi-year renovation that added several interactive displays to its already immense and impressive holdings of historic planes, trains and automobiles. The renovation also added new exhibits on astronomy, photography, printing and architecture.
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Czech Museum of Fine Arts
Housed in three beautifully restored Romanesque and Gothic buildings, this often-overlooked little gallery stages temporary exhibitions of 20th-century and contemporary art, though it’s worth the admission fee just for a look at the architecture.
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Maroldovo Panorama
The Maroldovo Panorama is an impressive 360-degree diorama (11m high and 95m long) of the 1434 battle of Lipany (in which the Hussite Taborites lost to the Hussite Utraquists and Emperor Zikmund's forces). It was painted by Luděk Marold in 1898.
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Garden on the Ramparts
At Prague Castle’s eastern gate is the entrance to the Garden on the Ramparts. This terrace garden offers superb views across the roof-tops of Malá Strana and permits a peek into the back garden of the British embassy.
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Church of St Clement
The Church of St Clement, lavishly redecorated in the baroque style from 1711 to 1715 to plans by Kilian Dientzenhofer, is now a Greek Catholic chapel. Conservatively dressed visitors are welcome to attend the services.
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Jubilee Synagogue
The colourful Moorish facade of the Jubilee Synagogue, also called the Velká synagóga (Great Synagogue), dates from 1906. Note the names of the donors on the stained-glass windows, and the grand organ above the entrance.
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Archbishop's Palace
Opposite the Schwarzenberg Palace is the rococo Archbishop's Palace, bought by Archbishop Antonín Brus of Mohelnice in 1562, and the seat of archbishops ever since. The exterior was given a rococo makeover between 1763 and 1765.
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Jewish Town Hall
Next to the Old-New Synagogue, this town hall was built by Jewish ghetto mayor Mordechai Maisel in 1586. It's worth noting for its clock tower, which has one Hebrew face where the hands run 'backwards', as Hebrew script does.
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Franz Kafka's Birthplace
An oft-photographed bust of the great writer marks the building where he was born on 3 July 1883, at what was then U Radnice 5. Now, this spot in the shadow of the Old Town Sq's St Nicholas Church is named after him.
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Cubist Lamp Post
Angular but slightly chunky, made from striated concrete - the world's only cubist lamppost would be worth going out of the way to see. So it's a happy bonus this novelty is just around the corner from Wenceslas Sq.
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Smiřický Palace
On 22 May 1618 Czech nobles gathered at the Smiřický Palace to plot a rebellion against the Habsburg rulers – the next day they flung two Habsburg councillors out of a window in Prague Castle.
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Franz Kafka Monument
Jaroslav Róna's unusual sculpture of a mini-Franz sitting piggyback on his own headless body was unveiled in 2003. Commissioned by Prague's Franz Kafka Society, it stands beside the Spanish Synagogue.
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Bílek Villa
This striking art-nouveau villa, designed by sculptor František Bílek in 1911, now houses a museum of his unconventional works. Bílek's distinctive sculptures, mostly in wood, take inspiration from his religious beliefs. Dramatic compositions such as The Fall show Adam and Eve cowering in fear of God's wrath, while Wonderment expresses the feeling of awe at God's presence.
Bílek's most famous work is a wooden relief of The Crucifixion, on display in St Vitus Cathedral – you can see a charcoal preliminary sketch of it among the artist's drawings in the 1st-floor gallery. The villa served not only as a studio but also as the artist's home, and there are several rooms…
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Mirror Maze
Below the Petřín Lookout Tower is the Mirror Maze, also built for the 1891 Prague Exposition. As well as the maze of distorting mirrors, which was based on the Prater in Vienna, there’s a diorama of the 1648 battle between Praguers and Swedes on Charles Bridge.
Opposite is the Church of St Lawrence (kostel sv Vavřince), which contains a ceiling fresco depicting the founding of the church in 991 at a pagan site with a sacred flame.
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Pilsner Urquell Brewery
Plzeň's most popular attraction is the tour of the Pisner Urquell Brewery, in operation since 1842 and arguably home to the world's best beer. Entry is by guided tour only, with three tours in English available daily. Tour highlights include a trip to the old cellars (dress warmly) and a glass of unpasteurised nectar at the end.
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Tranzit/Display
The best galleries for contemporary art around town include Jiří Švestka; the Rudolfinum; Tranzit/Display; NoD; and Karlín Studios.
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Karlín Studios
Housed in a converted factory building, this complex of artists’ studios includes a public art gallery that showcases the best of Czech contemporary art, plus two small commercial galleries. This is the place to come and see what’s happening at the cutting edge of art in the city.
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Jiří Švestka
The best galleries for contemporary art around town include Jiří Švestka; the Rudolfinum; Tranzit/Display; NoD; and Karlín Studios.
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NoD
The best galleries for contemporary art around town include Jiří Švestka; the Rudolfinum; Tranzit/Display; NoD; and Karlín Studios.
reviewed
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Strahov Library
Strahov Library is the largest monastic library in the country, with two magnificent baroque halls dating from the 17th an 18th centuries. You can peek through the doors but, sadly, you can’t go into the halls themselves – it was found that fluctuations in humidity caused by visitors’ breath was endangering the frescoes. There's also a display of historical curiousities.
The stunning interior of the two-storey-high Philosophy Hall (Filozofický sál; 1780–97) was built to fit around the carved and gilded, floor-to-ceiling walnut shelving that was rescued from another monastery in South Bohemia (access to the upper gallery is via spiral staircases concealed in the…
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Prague Castle Picture Gallery
The same Swedish army that looted the famous bronzes in the Wallenstein Garden in 1648 also nicked Rudolf II’s art treasures. This exhibition of 16th- to 18th-century European art, housed in the beautiful Renaissance stables at the northern end of the Second Courtyard, is based on the Habsburg collection that was begun in 1650 to replace the lost paintings; it includes works by Cranach, Holbein, Rubens, Tintoretto and Titian.
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