Architecture sights in Czech Republic
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Dancing Building
The Dancing Building was built in 1996 by architects Vlado Milunić and Frank 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 legendary dancing duo Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. It’s surprising how well it fits in with its ageing neighbours.
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Karolinum
Central Europe’s oldest university, founded by Charles IV in 1348, was originally housed in the so-called Rotlev House. With Protestantism and Czech nationalism on the rise, the reforming preacher Jan Hus became Charles University’s rector in 1402 and soon persuaded Wenceslas IV to slash the voting rights of the university’s German students – thousands of them left Bohemia when this was announced. The facilities of the ever-expanding university were concentrated here in 1611, and by the 18th century the old burgher’s house had grown into a sizeable complex known as the Karolinum. After the Battle of Bílá Hora (1620) it was handed over to the Jesuits, who gave it a baroque…
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Lucerna Palace
The most elegant of Nové Město’s many shopping arcades runs through the art nouveau Lucerna Palace (1920), between Štěpánská and Vodičkova streets. The complex was designed by Václav Havel (grandfather of the ex-president), and is still partially owned by the family. It includes theatres, a cinema, shops, a rock club and several cafes and restaurants.
In the marbled atrium hangs artist David Černý’s sculpture Kun (Horse), a wryly amusing counterpart to the equestrian statue of St Wenceslas in Wenceslas Square. Here St Wenceslas sits astride a horse that is decidedly dead; Černý never comments on the meaning of his works, but it’s safe to assume that this…
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Kladruby
A Benedictine abbey was founded here in 1115 and, following repeated plundering in the Thirty Years' War, received a major facelift by prominent Bohemian artists Giovanni Santini and Kilian Ignatz Dientzenhofer. The main attraction is the Abbey Church of the Holy Virgin, rebuilt between 1712 and 1726 by Santini in an extraordinary 'baroque Gothic' style.
The church has the original floor plan of a Romanesque basilica, the longest in Bohemia (85m/279ft). The church itself is an improbable marriage of baroque flamboyance and Gothic severity that would verge on tongue-in-cheek if it wasn't so beautiful. A standard tour includes the cloisters, with several dozen allegorical…
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Brick Gate
At the 19th-century Brick Gate, on the northern side of Vyšehrad, you can see an exhibit explaining the history of Vyšehrad and Prague’s other fortifications. Here you will also find the entrance to the Casemates (adult/child 30/20Kč), a system of vaulted brick tunnels beneath the ramparts. The largest of these is the barrel-vaulted Gorlice Hall, which served as an air-raid shelter and potato store during WWII. It now houses six of the original baroque statues from Charles Bridge, including St Ludmila with the Young St Wenceslas by Matthias Braun (the other originals are in the Lapidárium), as well as temporary art exhibitions in summer. The Casemates ticket also…
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Vila Tugendhat
Brno had a reputation in the 1920s as a centre for modern architecture in the Functionalist and Bauhaus styles. Arguably the finest example is this family villa, designed by modern master Mies van der Rohe in 1930. Entry is by guided tour, booked in advance by phone or over the website.
If you can't book a tour, the front of the house is still worth a look for how sharply it contrasts with many of the other contemporaneous buildings in the neighbourhood. To find the villa, take tram 3, 5 or 11 from Moravské náměstí up Milady Horákové to Černopolní, then walk 300m north.
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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. From the terrace beyond the church you can see some of Nové Město’s original fortifications, and look out towards ancient Vyšehrad and the modern Nusle Bridge (Nuselský most), which vaults across the valley of the Botič creek, with six lanes of traffic on top and the metro inside.
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St Nicholas Church
The baroque wedding cake in the northwestern corner of Old Town 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). Considerable grandeur has been worked into a very tight space; originally the church was wedged behind the Old Town Hall’s northern wing (destroyed in 1945). Chamber concerts are often held beneath its stucco decorations, a visually splendid (though acoustically mediocre) setting.
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House at the Three Fiddles
The House at the Three Fiddles, a Gothic building rebuilt in Renaissance style during the 17th century, once belonged to a family of violin makers.
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Prague Main Train Station
What? The railway station is a tourist attraction? Perhaps not all of it, but it's certainly worth heading to the top floor for a look at the grimy, soot-blackened splendour of the original art nouveau entrance hall that was designed by Josef Fanta and built between 1901 and 1909.
The dilapidated, domed interior is adorned with a mosaic of two nubile ladies, the Latin inscription Praga: mater urbium (Prague, Mother of Cities) and the date ‘28.října r:1918’ (28 October 1918, Czechoslovakia’s Independence Day). The hall is currently home to the Fantová Kavárna (Fanta Cafe), but there are plans to use the space for displaying the Slav Epic, a series of 20…
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Villa Müller
Fans of functionalist architecture will enjoy this masterpiece of domestic design. It was built in 1930 for construction entrepreneur František Müller, and designed by the Viennese architect Adolf Loos, whose clean-cut, ultramodernist exterior contrasts with the polished wood, leather and oriental rugs of the classically decorated interior.
The villa can be visited only by guided tour, which must be booked in advance; tours begin every two hours from 9am April to October, from 10am November to March.
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House of the Golden Horseshoe
The House of the Golden Horseshoe is named after the relief of St Wenceslas above the doorway – his horse was said to be shod with gold.
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St John of Nepomuk House
Built in 1566, the St John of Nepomuk house is adorned with the image of one of Bohemia’s patron saints.
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Bretfeld Palace
Following the tourist crowds downhill from Prague Castle via Ke Hradu will bring you to Nerudova, architecturally the most important street in Malá Strana; most of its old Renaissance façades were ‘baroquefied’ in the 18th century. (It’s named after the Czech poet Jan Neruda, who was famous for his short stories, Tales of Malá Strana.) From 1765 Josef of Bretfeld made his Bretfeld Palace a social hotspot, entertaining Mozart and Casanova.
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Nerudova
Malá Strana's main thoroughfare plunges steeply downhill from the castle to Malostranské náměstí. Today it's lined with touristy restaurants and shops but you can still admire the 'baroque-ified' Renaissance façades and ornate old house signs. Casanova and Mozart shared lodgings in 1791 at No 33, Bretfeldský Palace. Czech writer Jan Neruda, after whom the street takes its current name, lived at No 47, At the Two Suns (1845-57).
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House of the Two Suns
Following the tourist crowds downhill from Prague Castle via Ke Hradu will bring you to Nerudova, architecturally the most important street in Malá Strana; most of its old Renaissance façades were ‘baroquefied’ in the 18th century. It’s named after the Czech poet Jan Neruda (famous for his short stories, Tales of Malá Strana ), who lived at the House of the Two Suns from 1845 to 1857.
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Tunnel
In 2002 an arty tunnel - red-brick and rather Freudian - was completed by architect Josef Pleskot beneath the castle's Powder Bridge, making a quirky alternative exit route from the castle. Turn west from the bridge's castle side and follow the footpath down into the moat to reach it. If you keep going, you'll reach Malostranská metro.
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St Mary of the Snows
The original Jesuit college complex, founded in 1573, stretches along Universitní and into Náměstí Republiky. It includes the baroque church of St Mary of the Snows (kostel Panny Marie Sněžné), which is full of fine frescoes.
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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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St Anne Church
South of the square on Smetany is the very baroque St Anne Church, another work by Jakub Auguston.
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Baroque Pharmacy
At Špilberk Castle there is an exquisite Baroque Pharmacy dating from the mid-18th century.
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Bishopric
Enter the 18th-century Bishopric through a small gate in the wall.
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