Staré Mesto - Old Town

Staré Mesto is the old town that is the heart of Prague. It has many squares, stunning old buildings and churches. The oldest parts of Staré
Mesto have their roots from the 11th century.


Staromestské Námestí, Old Town Square is the heart of Prague and its old town. It is dominated by the impressive gothic Church Of Our Lady Before Tyn that started construction in 1435.

One of many old fashioned horse carriages in front of the famous Jan Hus monument at the square, a symbol for integrity that summarizes the light and dark times of the Czech Republic.

Looking towards Tyn. There are many open-air restaurants at the square.

S:t Gallus Church from 1280, the first building we saw in Staré Mesto.

Looking towards the old town hall in the old town.

Looking up the 80m tall Tyn Church (Týnsky Kostel) at Old Town Square, making it look taller than it actually is. The Danish astronom Tycho Brahe is buried here, but we forgot to see his grave.

Tyn is associated with the reformation of Böhmen, the landscape where Prague is situated.

The impressive interior of Tyn has gothic statues, among them of Golgata.

The old town hall. 69m tall, it started construction already in 1338. It rised very fast, because it was financed by a tax on vine.

The town hall's famous astronomic clock (orloj) from 1410. The purpose of it was to imitate the circles of the sun and the moon around the Earth. Every hour, the figures, the skeleton and the apostels move. Unfortunately we missed it every time!

St Nikolas Church (sv. Mikulás), is a baroque church that has hosted many concerts. It is strange to understand that it bares the same name as the larger St Nicholas Church on Malá Strana some hundreds of meters across the river.

Ministerstvo pro místní rozvoj (ministry for local development) at Staromestské Námestí (the old town square). A beautiful jugend house from 1898 decorated with firemen at the top of the facade.

"House of the stone ram" with decorations from the 16th century is one of the famous beautiful facades at the Old Town Square.

Prasná Brána, the "Gunpowder Gate". A copy of the gate tower to Charles Bridge. Founded in 1475 by king Vladislav II as one of 13 gates to the old town, it got its name because it later was used to store gunpowder.

Obecní Dum, Peoples's Palace of Prague, is Prague´s most famous jugend building and is situated at the place where the old royal palace once stood. In the glass domed Smetana Hall, many popular concerts take place. Conference rooms, offices, restaurants and cafés are included in the complex. We went in and had a look in the jugend café. It was in Obecní Dum that the new independent state of Czechoslovakia was declared in 1918.

Right next to Obecní Dum a very large and modern new shopping mall is under construction inside an old building.

The silhouette of the Church of Our Lady Before Týn is rising above the old town.

Státní Opera (the state opera) from 1885. It was originally called the New German Theatre because it was built to compete with the Czech national theatre. In 1945 it became the city's foremost opera. It is situated next to River Vltava.

We went inside an old, but large department store called Billa Labut (White Swan) at Na Porici. Despite being its anchor store, it was very worn and the fashion was out of date. And it was very hot inside, it felt like a relic from the communism, but that's just what I wanted to see.

The view from the furniture department on Billa Labut´s top floor.

Kotva, Prague's largest department store, is a bit more modern than Billa Labut, but is also a little bit more expensive. Kotva means The Anchor and is situated at Námesti Republiky.

Different architectural styles and heights in the old town.

More beautiful buildings.

Hotel Mercure.

A spooky character from Mozart's Don Giovanni outside a theatre.

Karluv Most, also called Charles Bridge or Karls bridge, is the most famous and beautiful monument in Prague and connects Staré Mesto with Malá Strana. It is 520m long and was built in sandstone. Click here for more info and pictures about Charles Bridge.