Nové Mesto - New Town

Nové Mesto means New Town in English and is more than twice as large as Staré Mesto, the Old Town. Nové Mesto was founded in 1348 by king
Karl IV and was planned around 3 important marketplaces: Václavské námésti, Karlovo namesti and Senovázné námésti. In the end of the 19th
century, many blocks of the New Town where totally reconstructed.


Václavské Námesti, that means Václav Square. Actually it is more a wide boulevard (750m long, 60m wide) than a square and starts with the famous Narodny Museum above it and leads down to the old town in the north. The student Jan Palach set himself on fire in 1969, a cross is laid at this place on the ground below the museum. Someone had laid yellow flowers on it. Under 3 weeks in 1989 the "velvet revolution" took place at the Václav Square, a friendly demonstration with 150 000 people that lead to the end of communism. International hotels, restaurants, clubs and stores are now on each side of Václav Square. Many of the arcades are under renovation, because they became shabby under the communism time. For example, a dark shabby arcade where closed for renovation where we came to visit a photo store.The statue of S:t Václav (in the picture) was erected in 1912, but was under renovation when we visited. Close to the statue is a memorial of the communism's victims.


The marble interior of the Narodny Museum (the national museum) is very impressive. Actually it is more interesting than the museum itself I read, so we didn't pay any fee to enter the museum. Anyway, I asked the guards to take these photos of this impressive atrium and it was ok.


Narodny Museum is a huge renaissance building, drawn by Josef Schulz


There is a waterfall right below the stairs to the museum.


Státni Opera, State Opera, the original old building at Václav Square, not by far as heavily guarded as the new one by some strange reason. Originally it was called
The New German Theater because it was built to compete with the Czech theatre. In 1945, the theatre became Prague´s foremost opera house.


The modern addition to the State Opera is heavily guarded.


In the middle of the boulevard of Vaclav Square, there are modern artistic creations. One of them is this triangle of scrapped Skodas, that looks very fun.


The old red trams you see are not in service. It is a café! The beautiful redish building in the middle hosts a Swedish H&M store.


The tram café, the car monument and Narodny Museum.


More strange sculptures and beautiful buildings at Vaclav Square.


Ludmila Church is towering behind the Narodny Museum.


Grand Hotel Evropa at Václav Namesti was completed in 1906. It is a classic 5 star jugend hotel where most of the interior is original.


Kláster Na Slovanech (Slovanech Abbey Emauzy) was the first interesting building
we spotted when walking along the river. It has an impressively modern design
because it was destroyed in WW2 and then rebuilt with modern concrete towers.


Ginger & Fred, Prague´s most famous modern office building, looks very strange
because of its cool nongeometric cartoonish design. It hosts the exclusive
restaurant Perle de Prague.


It is also called Rasín building or the Dancing House because of its strange design and its name from the famous dancers. It was not so big as I expected.


Elegant facades of Rasinovo nabi and Masarykovo nabi (different names of the same river boulevard).


Národni divadlo, the National Theater is in the center of this Masarykovo nabi picture. The theatre has always been a symbol of the Czech cultural renaissance.


When it was completed in the 19th century, the whole building burned down. So they had to rebuild it from
the beginning. It is famous for its blue roof and its gold decorations.


A green tram in front of Laterna Magika's modern glass facade that reflects old
buildings opposite. Laterna Magika is the modern annex to the National Theater.


Legíi bridge above River Moldau/Vltava with one of Prague´s characteristic red and white trams and a backdrop of the Prague castle with S:t Vitus.


Another old church in the new town.


Karlovo namesti (Charles Square), actually more a park (surrounded by streets
trafficated by cars and trams) than a square since the middle of the 19th century.
Many interesting buildings surround the large square/park.

The following buildings are situated around Charles Square:


The New Town Hall (Novomestká radnice) is actually as old as from the 14th century. It occupies the
whole block in the northern edge of the square. The town hall's tower can be seen to the right.


The sublime park is very nice with its fountains and flowers.


What is the most interesting, the old Jesuit school or the Hummer?
The very old building Karlovo namesti at has been a hospital since the Jesuits were
banned in the middle of the 17th century.


S:t Ignatius Church, a baroque church built for the
Jesuits belonging to the nearby school.


Faust House (Faustuv Dum). Prince Václav of Opava, Edward Kelly and count Ferdinand Mladota are all alchemists that lived in this house and gave it its name. Today it doesn't feel so dramatic, we went inside the courtyard in daylight, and it has been partly painted in ugly pink the latest years. Today it has some medical facilities.


The entrance to the Faust house's garden.

We are now leaving Karlovo namesti to head for the botanical garden in New Town close to Vysehrad and Vltava.


The botanical gardens of Prague are owned by the university and was founded by Karl IV.


The garden is a nice place to relax in and is divided into smaller sections divided by bushes and walls. But
it doesn't use the right way of treating the flowers according to my girlfriend.


This view remind a lot of Manhattan´s skyline seen from Empire State Building!? :


A brand new residential building, close to Vinohrady. When we entered the Lidl store in the bottom floor, it felt just like home, but the prices where 1/3 of the one I use to visit in Malmö, Sweden.


The impressive Narodny Museum from the back.


Atrium Hilton close to Václav Square. This hotel is definitely more luxurious than our hotel. It is the largest hotel in the Czech Republic.


The atrium of Hilton with its pyramid glass roof, marble floor, palms and glass enclosed elevators.


The modern mirroring façade of the energy company Eon's office building opposite from the Hilton.


Hotel Opera with its pink facade. It is a 4 star hotel from 1890. We passed a market on the Saturday, right next to this hotel, where I bought very cheap clothes from Asian people. It seems like the streets of Pragueare much more empty on Saturdays.


This church, photographed from the bus, was one
of the last things we saw of central Prague the last day.

 

Prague's new town by night:


Václav Square after dark.


Narodny Museum at Václav Namesti is impressively light after dark.


Primitive, a special restaurant where we ordered Czech vine. It was located in a basement close to Václav Square at Sokolská in Nové Mesto (New Town). The interior was very cool, it looked like a cave and was decorated with bones, fur and other primitive stuff that belong to a hunter. The staff were dressed in cloth that should remind of the stone ages.