National Memorial to the Heroes of the Heydrich Terror

Top choice in Prague


The Church of Sts Cyril & Methodius houses a moving memorial to the seven Czech paratroopers who were involved in the assassination of Reichsprotektor Reinhard Heydrich in 1942, with an exhibit and video about Nazi persecution of the Czechs. The church appeared in the 2016 movie based on the assassination, Anthropoid.

The paratroopers hid in the church's crypt for three weeks after the killing, until their hiding place was betrayed by the Czech traitor Karel Čurda. The Germans besieged the church, first attempting to smoke the paratroopers out and then flooding the crypt with fire hoses. Three paratroopers were killed in the ensuing fight; the other four took their own lives rather than surrender to the Germans.

In the crypt itself you can still see the bullet marks and shrapnel scars on the walls, and signs of the paratroopers’ last desperate efforts to dig an escape tunnel to the sewer under the street. On the Resslova side of the church, the narrow gap in the wall of the crypt where the Germans inserted their fire hoses is still pitted with bullet marks.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby Prague attractions

1. Dancing House

0.12 MILES

The Dancing House was built in 1996 by architects Vlado Milunić and Frank Gehry. The curved lines of the narrow-waisted glass tower clutched against its…

2. Rašínovo nábřeží 78

0.13 MILES

This apartment building, designed by the grandfather of the late president Václav Havel, was where Havel first chose to live (in preference to Prague…

3. Charles Square

0.14 MILES

With an area of more than seven hectares, Charles Square is Prague’s biggest – it’s more like a small park, really, and was originally the city's cattle…

4. Mánes Gallery

0.16 MILES

Spanning the Vltava between the embankment and Slovanský Island and cowering beneath a 15th-century water tower, the Mánes Building (1927–30) is a…

5. House of the Hlahol Choir

0.16 MILES

The House of the Hlahol Choir, built in 1906 by Josef Fanta for a patriotic choral society associated with the Czech National Revival, is decorated with…

6. Church of St Ignatius

0.19 MILES

Presiding over Chalres Square is this 1660s baroque tour de force, designed for the Jesuits by Carlo Lurago.

7. Faust House

0.2 MILES

The baroque palace at the southern end of Charles Square is known as Faust House because, according to the popular German legend, this was where…

8. František Palacký Memorial

0.21 MILES

Stanislav Sucharda’s extraordinary art nouveau František Palacký Memorial dominates Palackého náměstí. It shows a swarm of haunted bronze figures …