Týn Courtyard

This picturesque courtyard tucked behind the Church of Our Lady Before Týn was originally a sort of medieval caravanserai – a fortified hotel, trading centre and customs office for visiting foreign merchants. First established as long ago as the 11th century, it’s still often called by its German name, Ungelt (‘customs duty’), and was busiest and most prosperous during the reign of Charles IV. Now attractively renovated, the courtyard houses shops, restaurants and hotels. In the northwest corner is the 16th-century Granovsky Palace, with an elegant Renaissance loggia, and sgraffito and painted decoration depicting biblical and mythological scenes. Across the yard, to the right of the V Ungeltu shop, is dům U černého medvěda (House at the Black Bear), whose baroque façade is adorned with a statue of St John of Nepomuk above the door and a bear in chains on the corner, a reminder of the kind of ‘entertainment’ that once took place here.