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Total distance: 1.2 km, Updated: 9 months ago
Karmelitská Street stretches along the old route leading through the újezd settlement and the countryside, of what is today Smíchov, as far as Cheb and onto Germany. Right at the beginning of the street, the second house in the direction away from Lesser Town Square (No. 516/31), hides, behind an unusually truncated facade, the remains of the újezdská brána (the Ujezd Gate) from the first fortification of the Lesser Town. Beyond it we enter the quarter which dates from the enlarging of the town in the time of Charles IV. Immediately behind Tržiště Street we turn right, into the courtyard of the altogether unobtrusive, late Renaissance Vrtba Palace (No. 373/24).
The Palace stands on the site of two houses. One of them was owned at the beginning of the 17th century by Kryštof Harant of Polžice and Bezdružice. He was executed together with 26 other noblemen on 21 June 1621, on Staroměstké Square. Behind the Palace on Petřín Hill was constructed, around 1720, a Baroque terraced garden, one of the most charming in Prague. We enter it by a gate with a statue of Atlas carrying the world. It is by Matyáš Bernard Braun, the creator of all the statuary decoration in the garden. The architect František Maximilián Kaňka has managed in an exceptional way to exploit the possibilities of the relatively small area of a former vineyard, lying on a steep hillside. The garden is divided into three terraces connected by flights of steps, decorated with statues of gods from antiquity. At the lower end of the garden the palace has a salla terrena with a damaged fresco by Václav Vavřinec Reiner. At the highest point is a viewing pavilion affording, without doubt, one of the most delightful views of the Lesser Town. In the garden house on the first terrace, the Czech painter Mikoláš Aleš lived, between 1886-1889 .
Opposite the Vrtba Palace stands the house U zlatého pštrosa (At the Golden Ostrich) [No. 376/20] where in the time of Emperor Rudolf II, was the Lesser Town ball game hall. In 1884 the Regent Hotel was established here and later on an inn of the same name. The neighbouring house, U černého lva (At the Black Lion) [No. 379/18], was at the end of the 18th century an inn, becoming redesigned at the beginning of the 19th century as a luxurious hotel called “At the Archduke Charles”. Prominent diplomats, statesmen, military commanders and artists were guests. Perhaps even the Russian Czar, Peter the Great, and Admiral Nelson, travelling through Europe with his mistress Lady Hamilton, spent a night here.
The opposite house U tří jetelových lístků (At the Three Leaf Clover) [No. 378/17] dating from the 16th century is on the site of the Lesser Town hospital. By the wall of the tiny hospital cemetery, on the inside of course, in 1609 was buried a Turk from the Shah's retinue sent to the Emperor. He died as the result of a fight, probably fired up by alcohol, in which the members of the retinue disregarding Islamic law, happily indulged while in Prague. The city then experienced its first Muslim funeral. Between 1586-1684 by the hospital was the small Church of Master Jan Huss, belonging initially to the Czech Ultraquist movement, and later to the German Lutherans. After the Battle on the White Mountain in 1620, it was returned to the Catholics and renamed the Church of St. Ludvík. Then the French who settled in Prague held their services here.
Further along the street is one of the best known Prague churches, the Church Panny Marie Vítězné (the Church of Our Lady Victorious). It was the first Baroque church in Prague with a distinctive hall type interior and was influenced by an original in Rome. It was built between 1611-1612 probably designed by Giovanni Mario Filippi for the use of German Lutherans. Then it was called the Church of the Holy Trinity. In 1624 it was passed on to the Order of the Barefoot Carmelite Monks, one of whose brethren, Dominic á Jesú Maria, helped to bring about the victory of the imperial army at the Battle of the White Mountain in 1620.
In memory of this Catholic victory the church was renamed the Church of Our Lady Victorious and rebuilt. In the process its orientation was changed: the current street facade is on the site of the former presbytery and the main altar stands in the place of the main entrance into the Lutheran church. Nowadays the church has its main altar situated unusually in the west and the lofty east facade faces the street; it is characteristic of the Baroque that, more than with the traditional orientation of churches, it pays attention to the whole impression created by a building, and always turns its most impressive side towards a busy street or square.
Under the church was constructed a catacomb type crypt, where mummified monks, together with the benefactors of the church, are resting (largely in open coffins). The church became world famous, thanks to the little statue of the Pražské Jezulátko (The Prague Baby Jesus). This wax statue was brought at the end of the 16th century from Spain and in 1628 the Carmelite Church received it as a gift from Polyxena of Lobkovic. Pilgrims come to the miraculous Baby Jesus from all over the world and in many catholic countries Prague is known primarily as the place where the “Bambino di Praga” is kept.
The Baby Jesus was given over sixty costumes by prominent people. One of them was sewn, it was said, by the Empress Maria Theresa herself. Thanks to the Baby Jesus' costumes, in 1958 a certain international faux pas was committed by the North Vietnamese communist delegation, when they bestowed a costume for the Baby Jesus upon Prague and the communist government, as an official gift from the people of their country. The Vietnamese must have thought, perhaps on the basis of out of date information, that it was some sort of official custom.
Behind the church and the adjoining monastery is an extensive seminary garden, today a part of the Petřín park. Around 1780 the Carmelite monks farmed here, in man-made ponds and streams, frogs, fish and tortoises - excellent food during fasting to replace the prohibited meat. At the front of the church, mounted on the wall of the former monastery, is a bronze plaque by the sculptor František Adamec, in memory of the children who died in the Second World War.
Opposite the church we can see the Rohan Palace (Kuron, No. 386/8) which is a solitary example in Prague, of the style of Parisian Empire salons. Further on is the huge building of the former Church of St. Mary Magdalene (No. 388/24).
The church belonged to the Order of the Magdalene Nuns, who observed the rule of St. Augustine. On the site of a Gothic church demolished in 1420, a new church was built between 1656-1677, after a design by Francesco Caratti. The architects Kryštof Dientzenhofer and his son Kilián Ignác, important figures from the Czech Baroque were buried there. In 1783 the church and the convent were abolished.
We return to Karmelitská Street and soon turn right, through Prokopská Lane. We are entering the so called Maltese settlement, which grew up around the church and monastery of the Johannites - Maltese Knights.
The settlement had its own fortifications (in this street there used to be a small gate) and their own judicial and administrative powers, independent of the Lesser Town. On the left we notice a house U černého koníčka (At the Little Black Horse) [No. 279/10] with a picturesque house sign. The house No. 625/3 was adapted from a former Church of St. Prokopius, abolished in 1784. The dedication of the church to St. Prokopius is remembered by the saint's statue being above the portal.
In the centre of the Maltézské Square is a statue of St. John the Baptist, the patron saint of the Maltese Knights. It was erected in 1715 on a site where a temporary altar used to stand at the time of the plague epidemic. The sculptor was Ferdinand Maximilián Brokoff. On the right of Prokopská Lane is the Old Post Office (No. 480/8). This institution, built by the Count of Thurn-Taxis, functioned here between 1622-1723.
The postal service consisted of post stations, spread out between Prague and Vienna, where the messengers could change horses. At first it served only the sovereign but later private individuals could use it also. Here was the station for the coaches arriving from Vienna. Therefore in the 17th and 18th centuries, the Maltézské quarter became a place of modern hotels and inns. Even in the middle of the 18th century Prague had only one postman and letters were still taken directly to the post office. Post boxes were introduced only in 1822 and by the middle of the 19th century there were still just twenty in the whole of Prague. The modern post office was only created as late as the 19th century.
In the arcade on the opposite side of the square some of the oldest Prague paving is preserved. In the middle of the row of houses is the Straka of Nedabylice Palace (No. 476/14) with fine wall paintings from the beginning of the 18th century celebrating the Hapsburg victories over the Turks.
The house standing next to the Old Post Office is the former Turba Palace (No. 477/6) a charming Rococo building from 1767 designed by J. Jäger. If we look back from the palace towards the house U malířů (At the Painters) [No. 291/11], we can see above the roofs, the tower of the former Lesser Town fortifications. In the opposite direction the enormous Nostic Palace (No. 471/1) attracts our attention. The Palace was built between 1658-1660 after plans by Francesco Caratti, however the facade continued to be altered up to the middle of the 19th century. The Nostic family were enlightened aristocrats who took a supportive interest in science and the arts. They accumulated in their palace extensive collections of art and paintings. Particularly famous was the Nostic library with 15,000 volumes. Czech scholars used it including the Slavophile Josef Dobrovský and the historian František Martin Pelcl, who were employed by the Nostic family as tutors.
The Nostic family also played a significant role in politics. Perhaps that is why in 1732 the Brandenburg Elector and King of Prussia Frederick William I, accommodated himself in the palace. He was visited here by the Austrian sovereign Charles VI and both crowned heads discussed the question of the Polish succession after the (still living) King Augustus II. The parting of the two sovereigns ended somwhat comically because it struck the rocks of courtly etiquette: the Prussian King accompanied the Austrian guest as far as the carriage and intended, as is suitable for a host, to wait in front of the entrance until the Emperor left. Charles however would not allow it. His argument was that the Prussian King, though a host in the Nostic Palace, was in Prague always the Emperor's guest. He therefore refused to leave before Frederick William returned to the palace. How long this ludicrous situation lasted and who at the end won, regrettably we do not know.
From Nosticova Street leading away from the palace we enter the Nostická Garden and later, via a little bridge across the Čertovka River (the Devil's stream), we reach Kampa Island. This area remained deserted (apart from several mills) until the middle of the 16th century. Later on craftsmen settled here, whose duty it was to maintain Charles Bridge. Underneath the arches of the Bridge, which divides Kampa in two, they built their workshops and around them a small square developed. Later on the upper part of the island was laid out as a park. The gardens had belonged mostly to the palaces standing on the Lesser Town embankment behind the čertovka River. Now, in the upper half of the island, is only the building of the Sovových mlýnu (Sovových Mills) [No. 503/2] and the little house of the ferryman. The mills belonged later on to the Odkolek family and the well known Czech composer Josef Mysliveček worked here as a miller's apprentice. From the railings in front of the mills is a fine view of the river and the Old Town.
We however turn left into the lower inhabited part of the island. On the right side we notice the hexagonal building of the Kaiserstein (Lichtenstein) Palace (No. 506/4) built next to the Vltava after the example of Venetian palaces. Since its beginnings in 1696, the building has been rebuilt many times.
Opposite the palace is a garden cottage (No.501/7), a former tannery in the Nostic Garden. In 1798 Count Nostic adapted the house for his former tutor, the Czech scholar Josef Dobrovský, so that he could recover there from nervous exhaustion.
In the years between 1929-1940 the art historian Zdeněk Wirth, who wrote numerous works about the history and art of Prague, lived here. From 1946 until his death in 1981 Jan Werich inhabited the house, at one time together with the poet Vladimír Holan who lived on the ground floor.
We now come to the square Na Kampě. On the right by the bridge is the house U obrázku Panny Marie (At the Picture of the Virgin Mary) [No. 514/9] with a decorated gable best viewed from Charles Bridge. The Virgin Mary's picture was placed on the house probably after 1648 out of gratitude for the ending of the Thirty Years War. We enter Hroznová Street next to the house U zlatých nůžek (At the Golden Scissors) [No. 494/6], where in the Hummel house (No.500/7) the artist and painter Jiří Trnka lived. The relief on the entrance doors was made by him. In front of the house is a small bridge, over which we cross to go from Kampa back to the Lesser Town. We can see the mill wheel of the Velkopřevorský mlýn (Grand Prior Mill) [No.489/7] which turns in the Čertovka River.
Velkopřevorské Square derives its name from the palace of the Grand Prior of the Maltese Knights (No.485/4), a Baroque building by the architect Bartolomeo Scotti from between 1725- 1727. On the left, immediately behind the bridge is the Mettych of čečov Palace (No.490/1), with a Renaissance facade and portal in the style of Dutch mannerism. Belonging to the palace is also the neighbouring house, U velkého Goliáše a malého Davida (At the Giant Goliath and Little David) where the composer Josef Bohuslav Foerster was born in 1859. Next is the Buquoy Palace (No. 486/2), probably designed by Giovanni Santini and Ferdinand Maximilián Kaňka. The guardstones in front of the entrance separated off from the road, space for pedestrians, at a time when raised pavements did not yet exist.
Through Lázeňská Street we arrive in front of the Church Panny Marie pod řetězem (Church of Our Lady Under the Chain), built beside the Monastery of the Knights of St. John (Johannites), the later Maltese Knights. The name “Under the Chain” is perhaps a reminder of the nightly closing of the streets by chains but this meaning is not certain. The church and the monastery were founded in 1169 by King Vladislav II, who became acquainted with the Knights on a crusade to Palestine. During the reign of Charles IV, the original Romanesque building of the church was pulled down and a new, gothic, monumental church was started, probably with the assistance of the Parléř foundry. The Emperor took a great interest in the church and favoured it with his patronage. This is confirmed by the fact that, as part of the funeral ceremonies, the Emperor's body was displayed in the church for a day.
The church however remained unfinished and so behind the impressive Gothic towers with a vestibule, the nave was never built and instead, a long church garden was laid out. At its end stands the present church, originally only the Gothic presbytery of the intended, lengthy church. Inside, on the main altar, Karel Škréta depicted the Virgin Mary and St. John the Baptist as the helpers of the Maltese Knights in the victorious naval battle with the Turkish army at Lepanto in 1571. The Maltese Knights used to be knighted beside the painting which dates from the 1660s.
Next to the church is the Maltese Monastery (No. 287/4), built between 1728-1731. The architect Tomáš Haffenecker managed, on uneven ground, to create a splendid, baroque building with an oval courtyard, which as much as possible upholds the Baroque principle of symmetry.
Opposite the church is the house, U zlaté husy (At the Golden Goose) [No. 289/9] with an artistic, wrought iron, balcony grill. The neighbouring house, U zlatého jednorožce (At the Golden Unicorn) [No. 285/11], used to be a hotel, where Ludwig van Beethoven stayed overnight in 1796. There was another hotel in the street, a few steps further along, at the corner of Saská Street. It was called V lázních (At the Bath-house) [No. 286/6], because here was a popular Malteze bath-house at this spot. In the luxurious hotel, the Russian Czar Peter the Great, was accommodated in 1698 and the French romantic poet, Francois René Chateaubriand on a diplomatic mission in 1833 stayed here. In 1866 Otto von Bismarck stayed overnight also .
In Lázeňská and Saská Streets used to be gates barring entry to the Maltese settlement. And already the bustle from Mostecká Street reaches here, where we end our pilgrimage around the Lesser Town.
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