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'Quo Vadis' Sculpture
Not strictly a public monument, this golden Trabant car on four legs is a David Černý tribute to 4000 East Germans who occupied the garden of the then West German Embassy in 1989, before being granted political asylum and leaving their Trabants behind. Today's German embassy is happy for you to peer through its back fence at the sculpture. Continue uphill along Vlašská, turn left into a children's park, and left again to find it.
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Astronomical Clock
Ironically, if you wish to tell the time in the Old Town Sq, it's easier to look at the clock above this, because this 1490 mechanical marvel is tricky to decipher. The clock's creator, Master Hanuš, was allegedly blinded so he could not duplicate the clock elsewhere, although this is undoubtedly a myth.
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Castle Entrance
The main gate, on Hradčany Sq, is flanked by huge, 18th-century statues of battling Titans, which dwarf the guards beneath. Playwright-turned-president Václav Havel brought some pizzazz to the castle after 1989, when he hired the Czech costume designer on the film Amadeus to redesign the guards' uniforms and then instigated a changing of the guard ceremony. The most impressive display is at , when banners are exchanged and a band plays.
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Černin Palace
Prague is infamous for defenestrations, where hapless political opponents have been hurtled from windows. One occurred here. In 1948 Jan Masaryk - son of first Czechoslovak president Tomáš Masaryk and the only non-communist in the post-war government - 'fell' to his death from his top-floor bathroom. Used as SS headquarters during WWII, the 17th-century building now houses the foreign ministry.
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Charles Bridge
Strolling across Charles Bridge is everybody's favourite Prague activity. However, by it's a 500m-long fairground, with an army of tourists squeezing through a gauntlet of hawkers and buskers, beneath the impassive gaze of the imposing baroque statues that line the parapets (see the boxed text, ). If you want to experience the bridge at its most atmospheric it's best appreciated at dawn.
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Church Of Our Lady Before Týn
The distinctive, spiky-topped Týn Church is early Gothic, though it takes some imagination to visualise the original in its entirety because it's partly hidden behind the four-storey Týn School (not a Habsburg plot to obscure this 15th-century Hussite stronghold, but almost contemporaneous with it). The church's name originates from a courtyard called Týnský dvůr, or just Týn, behind the church on Štupartská. Originally a sort of medieval caravanserai for visiting foreign merchants, the attractively renovated courtyard now houses shops, restaurants and hotels.
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Church of Our Lady of the Snows
The most sublime attraction in the neighbourhood is this Gothic church at the northern end of Wenceslas Square. It was begun in the 14th century by Charles IV but only the chancel was ever completed, which accounts for its proportions - seemingly taller than it is long.
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Church Of St Nicholas
The baroque wedding cake in the northwestern corner of the square is the Church of St Nicholas, built in the 1730s by Kilian Dientzenhofer (not to be confused with at least two other St Nicholas churches in Prague, including the Dientzenhofers' masterwork in Malá Strana).
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Church Of The Assumption Of The Virgin Mary & Charlemagne
At the southern end of Ke Karlovu is a little church with a big name, founded by Charles IV in 1350 and modelled on Charlemagne's burial chapel in Aachen. In the 16th century it acquired its fabulous ribbed vault, the revolutionary unsupported span of which was attributed by some to witchcraft.
Read more about Church Of The Assumption Of The Virgin Mary & Charlemagne
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Dancing Building
The junction where Resslova meets the river at Rašínovo nábřeží is dominated by the famous Dancing Building, built in 1996 by architects Vlado Milunič and the American Frank O Gehry. The curved lines of the narrow-waisted glass tower clutched against its more upright and formal partner led to it being christened the 'Fred & Ginger Building', after the legendary dancing duo of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. It's surprising how well it fits in with its ageing neighbours.
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Dvořák Museum
The most striking building in the drab neighbourhood south of Ječná is the Vila Amerika, a 1720s, French-style summer house designed by (you guessed it) Kilian Dientzenhofer. It's one of the city's finest baroque buildings, and now houses a museum dedicated to the composer Antonín Dvořák. Special concerts of Dvořák's music are staged here.
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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's beside the Spanish Synagogue.
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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.
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Gothic Cellar
The restored gothic cellars that once lay beneath Charles IV's palace (now gone) house a new exhibition dedicated to the history of Vyšehrad. It is packed with archaeological finds and religious relics associated with life on the fortress from 3800 BC until the present day.
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Hotel Crowne Plaza
The silhouette of this huge Stalinist building in northern Dejvice will be familiar to anyone who has visited the Russian capital. Originally called the Hotel International, it was built in the 1950s to a design inspired by the tower of Moscow University, right down to the Soviet-style star on top of the spire (though this one is green, not red).
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Jan Palach Memorial
On 16 January 1969, university student Jan Palach set fire to himself and died in protest against the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia the preceding August. The exact spot the martyr fell is marked by a wooden cross in the pavement that seems to have suffered a small earthquake beneath it. The 16 January is now commemorated annually.
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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' like Hebrew script.
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Jindřišská Tower
This Gothic bell tower, dating from the 15th century but rebuilt in the Gothic style in the 1870s, dominates the end of Jindřišská, a busy street running northeast from Wenceslas Square. Having stood idle for decades, the tower was renovated and re-opened in 2002 as a tourist attraction, complete with exhibition space, shop, café and restaurant, and a lookout gallery on the 10th floor.
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John Lennon Wall
After his murder on 8 December 1980 John Lennon became a pacifist hero for many young Czechs. An image of Lennon was painted on a wall in a secluded square opposite the French Embassy (there is a niche on the wall that looks like a tombstone), along with political graffiti and Beatles lyrics.
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Jubilee Synagogue
The colourful Moorish façade of the Jubilee Synagogue, also called the Velká (Great) synagóga, 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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Klementinum
To boost the power of the Roman Catholic Church in Bohemia, the Habsburg emperor Ferdinand I invited the Jesuits to Prague in 1556. They selected one of the city's choicest pieces of real estate and in 1587 set to work on the Church of the Holy Saviour (kostel Nejsvětějšího Spasitele), Prague's flagship of the Counter-Reformation and the Jesuit's original church.
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Křižík Fountain
Each evening from spring to autumn the musical Křižík Fountain performs its computer-controlled light-and-water dance. Performances range from classical music such as Dvořák's New World symphony to modern works by Jean Michel Jarre and Vangelis, rock music by Queen, and theme music from popular films. Call or check the website for details of what's on. The light show is best after sunset - from May to July go for the later shows.
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Malá Strana Bridge Tower
There are actually two towers at the Malá Strana end of Charles Bridge. The lower one was originally part of the long-gone 12th-century Judith Bridge , while the taller one was built in the mid-15th century in imitation of the one at the Staré Město end . The taller tower is open to the public and houses an exhibit on the history of Charles Bridge, though like its Staré Město counterpart the main attraction is the view from the top.
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Maltese Square
References to the Knights of Malta around Malá Strana hark back to 1169, when that military order established a monastery in the Church of Our Lady Beneath the Chain on this square. Disbanded by the communists, the Knights have regained much property under post-1989 restitution laws, including the Lennon Wall.
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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.
