Basic walks

Prague Castle is the main landmark and probably the most frequented place of the capital. Since time immemorial, it was the seat of the Czech kings and it is also the seat of our president today. Our tour starts at Matthias’ Gate and will lead us through the whole of the Prague Castle complex. We will finish in a beautiful oasis of the Royal Garden by Ann’s Summer Residence, called the Belvedere. 

We will talk about the development of the seat of the Czech kings and the forerunners of today’s castle, with small maps in our hands providing better orientation. We will visit excavations dating back to old times and hear the story of St. Wenceslas’ crown and Vladislav Hall, situated in Old Royal Palace. We will follow to St. George’s Basilica, and children will definitely enjoy Golden Lane: each will be given a picture of one of the houses located in the lane and will be told who lived in the place after finding it. Before the well-deserved relaxation, they will hear the legend of the lady of the White Tower and Dalibor, the famous prisoner of the cannon tower.

Vyšehrad, a magnificent promontory rising above the River Vltava, was the symbol of Czech history during the period of the Czech Revival. This trip will therefore reveal many old Czech legends.

We will start with the founding of Vyšehrad and continue with the tales of the treasure of the princess Libuše and her bath. Through the legends of the brave Bivoj, black dog and the Devil’s column we will get to the most important personality of the Vyšehrad myths and legends, Horymír and his brave horse Šemík. We will add some historical facts now and then but don’t worry – you will not be overwhelmed. To top off our tour, we will investigate the monuments and tombs of renowned people of Czech history to be found at the Vyšehrad cemetery and its pantheon called Slavín.

Prague Jewish Town is one of the rarities in the metropolis and it also offers enormous potential for tours tailored specifically for children. The legend of the Golem talks about the creation of an artificial man – but how does it differ from the reality? You will be able to find out when listening to the story of Rabbi Loew, the Golem’s creator. 

The tour does not involve only the story of the Golem but you will also learn about a saved Jewish school, two dangerous girls and the plague that affected Jewish children. We will visit all the synagogues and find out more on the history of the Jewish settlement in Prague, life in a ghetto, Jewish customs and traditions. We cannot but mention the holocaust, addressed by the exposition in the Pinkas Synagogue. We will finish our journey in the old Jewish cemetery where we will discover marks and symbols on tombstones and hear more legends around them. 

Members of the Czech Tourist Club visited the General National Jubilee Exhibition held in 1891 in Paris and saw there the new, very impressive lookout tower rising to the height of 300 m designed by Alexandre Gustav Eiffel. Upon their return a proposition was made on the general meeting to build a similar tower in Prague. And that’s how the Petřín Tower saw the light of the day... 

Starting at the Újezd stop, we will take a funicular up the hill and get off by the Růžový sad (Rose Garden). We will visit the Hunger Wall and talk about its history and the origin of its name. After that we will, of course, climb to the Petřín Tower itself and discuss the sight that inspired its construction, the Eiffel Tower. After the demanding climb we will follow to the exciting Mirror Hall and Štefánik’s Observatory and then back, down through the beautiful Kinsky Garden, stopping by the upper lake, dominated by a statue of a seal. This trip is not overly stuffed with information and it can therefore be a nice relaxing stroll for you and your pupils, students, sons or daughters. 

The first sources on the area of today’s quarter of Žižkov date back as far as the 11th century. It’s been a long time since it was a quarter of the poor so we don’t need to worry about visiting Žižkov at night anymore. And you will realize it offers so much to see!

For starters, we will talk about the founding of Žižkov. That’s not enough, of course: Žižkov has a lot more to offer. One of the most remarkable buildings is the Vítkov National Monument with an equestrian statue of Jan Žižka. The Military History Institute of Prague with a museum is situated nearby where we will learn about the assassination of the Reich Protector Reinhard Heydrich during the Second World War. 

The Neo-Gothic Church of Saint Procopius, situated in Sladkovského Square, is one of the most charming historical buildings in Prague but we will also visit St. Ann’s Church, built in the early 20th century, and the Žižkov Town Hall. And for a change, we will take a stroll through the Parukářka Park, offering nice views of the city, and visit an old nuclear bunker.

Troja is a Prague quarter named after the famous ancient city of Troy, conquered thanks to the legendary trick played by Odysseus. The mythical king of Ithaca had a huge wooden horse constructed, hiding Greek soldiers, which eventually led to their victory and the end of war. 

Our trip to Troja can include Troja Palace as well as the ZOO and the Botanical Garden. We will arrive by a boat and observe many sights along the River Vltava on our way. 

First of all, we will go to the gardens of and inside Troja Palace, one of the most beautiful baroque buildings to be found in the Czech Republic. The architect, Jean Baptiste Mathey, drew on the appearance of traditional Roman rural villas and built the Palace for Václav Vojtěch, the Count of Sternberg. The stairs outside are decorated by statues of ancient gods, which we will try to identify. Everybody will get pictures and a map of the interior. The main palace hall, called the Hall of Hesperides, the chapel and Chinese rooms feature many interesting frescoes and are decorated with paintings belonging to the collection of the City of Prague Gallery. 

After the information-stuffed part of the trip, we will move to the zoological garden. And if you are interested and have enough energy left, we will also go up the hill to the Botanical Garden featuring a tropical greenhouse called Fata Morgana. 

Be prepared for an all-day trip when going to Troja. If you come with us you will find out the whole experience is definitely worth taking it.

The quarter called Lesser Town was founded in 1257 and it stretches along the slopes surrounding Prague Castle. From all the quarters of Prague it has changed to the least degree: a few buildings have been built there since the end of the 18th century. In it heart lies Lesser Town Square with St. Nicholas’ Church. 

Our trip starts in Nerudova Street, decorated with many interesting house signs. Apart from St. Nicholas’ Church we will have a look at the Jesuit College, St. Wenceslas’ Church, the Plague Column of the Holiest Trinity, Liechtenstein Palace, Lesser Town Hall or St. Thomas’ Church, all situated in Lesser Town Square. After that we will relax in a beautiful garden by Wallenstein Palace and discover a grotto and statues by Adriaen de Vries.

We will follow from Klárov to “Herget’s Brick Plant”, to Franz Kafka Museum, which will remind us of the first of the above mentioned important personalities of the Czech culture. We will also stop by the sculptures by the well-known artist David Černý, located near the museum. Having visited the museum, we will follow to Velkopřevorské Square and the nearby Lennon’s Wall. We will find out what the contemporary socially engaged artists from the group Rafani once did at this place.

 

Going through the Kampa Park, we will pass by the house of Jiří Trnka, the world-famous Czech illustrator and puppet maker. We will visit the Museum Kampa, displaying works by the great abstract painter František Kupka – that will be our second “FK”. You can either have a look at the exhibition as “passive” audience or order a workshop led by an instructor in advance. 

Those of you who will have enough energy left can continue with us to Maltézské Square and the Church of Our Lady of Victory, situated in Karmelitská Street and displaying the famous Infant Jesus of Prague.

Those of you who have visited the Old Town and the Lesser Town may take a trip to a quarter founded by the emperor Charles IV in 1348. His idea was to move all noisy, smelly and other disturbing crafts to the New Town, which had a significant impact on its specific social structure, eventually. The New Town is slightly noisier than the Old even today but it takes nothing away from its interesting character. 

We will meet under the horse statue in Wenceslas Square, a typical place for meetings in Prague, and follow down the square, stopping by the most famous buildings to be found there. Passing through the Franciscan Garden, we will take an avenue called Národní třída and follow to Náměstí Republiky (Republic Square), with its outstanding landmarks: the beautiful Art Nouveau Municipal House and the Powder Tower. 

We will take a metro to Karlovo náměstí (Charles Square), featuring monuments of five famous Czech personalities, the New Town Hall and a Jesuit St. Ignatius’ Church. Ghosts did not limit themselves to the Old Town only: legends have it the New Town was haunted too so we will talk about local ghosts, lookalikes and a cut painting but we will also discuss the legend of a student called Mladota who lived in one of the houses situated in the square. It is Faust’s House, the most terrifying house in the city of Prague. 

Nearby is located St. John of Nepomuk Church, built by a baroque architect Kilian Ignaz Dientzenhofer, and the Emmaus Monastery with its typical modern steeples, which belong to the main landmarks of Prague’s skyline. If children come to join us, they can try and draw their idea of how the steeples might look like. This will be a smaller art workshop where your children will be able to let their imagination run riot! 

To top off our tour, we will visit Ss. Cyril and Methodius Cathedral, the hiding place of the assassins of the Reich Protector Reinhard Heydrich. Our icing on the cake will be the Dancing House, designed by the world famous architects Frank O. Gehry and Vlado Milunić.

We will take a trip to the Royal Game Park which was nicknamed the Stromovka Park during the 20th century and this is what it has been mostly called since then. It was established in 1266 by the king Ottokar II of Bohemia and later on, in the 15th century, a hunting residence was built above the park which was eventually transformed into today’s Vicegerent Summer Residence. The Stromovka Park is also referred to as the “green lungs of Prague” and it is a perfect place for a relaxing stroll among the trees or feeding the ducks in one of the ponds. 

We will pass by the former Emperor’s Mill, Rudolph’s tunnel and the Šlechtovka restaurant. After a longer walk we will be able to relax in comfortable seats of the Planetarium, featuring the “Cosmorama” hall which can seat up to 210 visitors. We can choose from several interesting shows, such as the “Astrology And Alchemy In The Court Of Rudolph II”, “The Night Sky” or “The Wanderers Through Space And Time”, which will tell you and your children about the Space, astronomy and astrology in a very entertaining way. 

To enjoy more fun and play we will go to the Výstaviště funfair. Refreshed with candyfloss, we will visit Marold’s Panorama, the largest painting to be found in the Czech Republic, depicting a scene from the Battle of Lipany. From there we will follow to the Sea World, a unique permanent exhibition of sea fish and other sea animals, and children will have a task to find a fish from the movie “Finding Nemo” and some information about it.

The famous Old Town Astronomical Clock was created in 1410 by Jan Šindel and made by a clockmaker Mikuláš of Kadaň. Later on it was extended by a clockmaster Jan Růže, also called Hanuš. This tale will be about a mysterious creation of the astronomical clock, its spheres, Sun, zodiac, Moon and measuring of time. We will also talk about the Apostles and the Death, prophesying hard times to the Czech nation... 

The Astronomical Clock is installed in the tower of a town hall which features a statue of the Virgin Mary with the Infant Jesus. It figures in the Story of an answered prayer. We will also talk about the town hall itself: it consists of several buildings dating back to various historical periods: the house of Wolfin od Kamene with a Gothic portal, the so called western house, built between 1471 and 1473, the next house of a furrier Mikš with a Renaissance facade, the house “At the Cock”, renovated in 1852, and the “Minute” house with a beautiful facade decorated with sgraffiti. We will thus have a perfect opportunity to reveal signs of the individual architectonic styles. Inside the town hall we will see paintings by Václav Brožík depicting two important historical events from our history: Jan Hus at the Council of Constance and the Election of King George of Poděbrady. We will discuss what the two men had in common and a little bit about the painter himself. One of the halls also features guild signs: will we find out which guilds and crafts they belong to?

St. Vitus’ Cathedral is a prominent landmark of Prague Castle and, more importantly, the city of Prague itself. The foundation stone was lied in 1344 under the reign of the Emperor Charles IV who made it the most important sanctuary of the whole country. 

We will start our tour of St. Vitus’ Cathedral at the western facade, surrounded by two towers. The portal gates feature scenes from the old history of the cathedral and the period of its construction. The architects of the last phase of construction are displayed under a large rose window. After receiving the floor plan of the interior, we will enter the cathedral through the ceremonial Golden Gate. Our main stops will be two tombstones: the first belongs to St. John of Nepomuk and features a golden lamp with an eternal light and the other to St. Vitus. We will follow to St. Wenceslas Chapel where we will show you a ring on the door the saint grasped when dying and an iron basket that was used for trials by ordeal. We will also discuss why the chapel was closed for a long time. 

We will not forget about the other chapels, their decorations and busts in the triforium depicting important people from the time of the construction. In addition, we will have an opportunity to compare the four wives of Charles IV and learn something about his private life. 

You will also hear many interesting legends related to this building: the Legend of the Saint Nail from Christ’s Cross, Roland’s Hunting Horns, St. Adalbert’s Glove, St. Radim Gaudentius’ Tomb, the Candlestick of Jerusalem, the Infant Jesus’ Painting, the legend of the cathedral tower and bell, its guardian and many other stories. Finally, we will learn why the cathedral was finished as late as the 20th century and we will try to compare it with other cathedrals to be found in other European metropolises. 

Charles Bridge is, undoubtedly, one of the most visited sights in Prague. The stories of the saints represented by the Charles Bridge statues may be interesting for both children and adults. 

At the beginning we will make a brief introduction of the bridge, its creation, adjustments and changes it has undergone. Charles Bridge also features a bas-relief called the Bearded Man. If the River Vltava reached his head, Prague inhabitants would know a flood was to come. 

Before entering the bridge we will stop by the Old Town bridge tower and admire its decoration. From there we will move to the individual statues, designed by many renowned artists. The most important were, however, two baroque masters: Ferdinand Maxmilian Brokoff and Matthias Bernard Braun. You will hear the stories of St. Bernard, St. Ivo of Kermartin, St. Dominic, St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Barbara, St. Margaret of Antioch, St. Elizabeth, Ss. Cyril and Methodius, St. Francis Xavier, St. John the Baptist and many many more. 

Our longest stop will be at the statue of St. John of Nepomuk and the sculptural group of St. Lutgardis created by M. B. Braun and at the sculptural group of Saint John of Matha, Felix of Valois and St. Ivan by F. M. Brokoff. 

You will be also shown the statue of Bruncvík, a knight wearing an armour with the sign of the Old Town. And if you are not overwhelmed by so many stories and important figures, we will tell you a legend of the statue of a builder, Perun’s idol, the painting of Martin Luther, the guardhouse, the ring of the Virgin Mary and the crown of the Infant Jesus, of the water spirit and the merchant or the Charles Bridge treasure. To top off our tour, we will have a look at both Lesser Town bridge towers.

The title of the tour is inspired by an essay by Adolf Loos, one of the pioneers of purist architecture of the inter-war avant-garde era and a great adversary of formalism and ornamental style. Loos claimed a work of art was created for its own purpose, that it had no sense apart from its artistic existence. A house, on the other hand, he asserted, served to specific needs that needed to be satisfied with total self-denial, the denial of one’s subjective creativity. 

This was a major breakthrough in the early 20th century and it will be interesting for you to learn about other artists who had a similar approach. These are not only architects – you will find out that the idea of freedom from the dependence on artistic subjectivity was shared by painters and sculptors as well, who actually did not consider themselves as artists and strived to free themselves from formal artistic clichés of their time. 

After meeting Dr. František Müller, Adolf Loos was commissioned to build a house for him. The Villa Müller was built in a steep slope between two street levels. The house block itself is a square prism with a skeleton structure formed by four concrete pillars. Its stark, plain appearance from the outside contrasts with the luxurious decoration of the interior which we will be able to see and admire its elaborate style and luxurious materials Loos decided to use. 

A spacious hall dominates the house, stretching along the width of the house with two staircases leading to a dining hall and a room of the lady of the house. In the third level – rather than traditional floors, Loos designed continual spaces – is located a library and a study of Dr. Müller, with a bedroom, children’s room and a guest room situated in the fourth level. On the top level we will find a vast terrace with an adjacent flower room. After visiting this special villa, we believe you would love to live in a house with a similar, ingenious layout.

The founder of Prague’s Holy Hut, called Loreta, was the Countess Benigna Kateřina of Lobkowicz who decided to invite an Italian architect Giovanni Battista Orsi from Vienna to build it. Loreta features a chime with thirty bells, dating back to the 17th century. The melody has remained the same for more than 300 years: a Marian song can be heard every hour.

The sad song features in a Prague legend of a poor widow: you will be able to find out about her if you come with us. Our journey around the Holy Hut will take us to a diamond treasure. At the hut you will notice a wall damaged by a lightning which, as legend has it, struck a blasphemous sinner. 

We will follow to the Church of the Lord’s Birth with several chapels. In the Chapel of Our Lady of Sorrows, we will notice a painting of a very interesting holy woman, St. Wilgefortis, usually depicted as a bearded woman. We will, of course, explain what the reason is for this beautiful girl being depicted as a man. Finally, we will come to the treasure house, hiding the treasure of Loreta. The oldest artefact is a chalice dating back to 1510 and the treasure contains many other liturgical objects. We will discuss what the individual artefacts were used for.  The most famous of them is a collection of monstrances: the most precious is decorated with an incredible 6,222 diamonds and it is referred to as the “Prague Sun”. The Prague Sun will be shining on our way back. 

The City of Prague Museum introduces the history of Prague in various periods on many interesting exhibits. In 1883 it found its seat in the “Cafe Pavilion” in the quarter of Poříčí but soon its capacity was not enough for the purposes of the museum. That is why a Neo-Renaissance building was constructed between 1896 and 1898 right next to the pavilion. 

Before entering the exposition, we will spend a short time with an introduction to the history of the city and we will discuss the most famous exhibit displayed, Langweil’s model of Prague, created in the first half of the 19th century and stretching along some twenty square metres. We will also have an opportunity to have a look at its 3D model in the projection room, located on the ground floor.

Whereas the first hall is dedicated to prehistoric and early medieval Prague, the second hall displays exhibits related to the High Middle Ages. Before entering the next room, we can have a look at Hussite artefacts. We will follow to the hall displaying the exposition “Prague at the end of the Middle Ages and the start of Modern Times”, dedicated to Renaissance, the reign of the Emperor Rudolph II and the development of art at that time. A more tragic period is represented by the Battle of White Mountain and the subsequent Thirty Years’ War. 

The exposition “Baroque Prague” includes a number of baroque sculptures and paintings by leading artists, among others. Langweil’s model, mentioned earlier, is situated in the hall no. 7.

Legend has it that the quarter of Břevnov used to be covered with forests. The name is said to be based on the place where lumberjacks used to lie beams, “břevno” in Czech. The large Břevnov Monastery was founded in 993 by a Bohemian Prince Boleslav II and the bishop St. Adalbert. Benedictine monks lived in the convent, brought there from Rome by St. Adalbert. 

On our visit to Břevnov Monastery we will discover how Benedictine monks lived, what robes they wore and how their order was created. The monastery includes a baroque St. Margaret’s Church, built by the architect Christoph Dientzenhofer. It is one of the most beautiful baroque buildings to be found in Prague. Dientzenhofer replaced a several times renovated Romanesque sanctuary. We will talk about St. Margaret and local paintings by the famous baroque artist Petr Brandl. Why do some of the figures he painted look like drunk – what do you think? Did Benedictine monks offer him often their delicious wine, maybe?

St. Nicholas’ Church of the Lesser Town has the largest dome in Prague and it is one of the first landmarks of Prague’s skyline you will notice. However, the interior of this Jesuit temple will definitely attract your attention too. The main character that will guide us on our journey will be St. Nicholas, of course, who is also the main feature in the church decoration.

However, before discussing it, we will start with a brief introduction of the building itself. Each participant will get a small brochure displaying several buildings from the world that are built in the same style as St. Nicholas’ Church. We will be able to compare them and identify the main common features. We will not forget about the Jesuit Order which used to own the church. We will find out about the importance of this order, other churches and colleges they had built in Prague and why and how it ceased to exist. 

Frescos in the interior were created by František Xaver Palko and Jan Lukáš Kracker. Legend has it that something interesting happened during the creation of the large fresco covering the dome: Kracker painted a figure of a monk hiding behind a pillar, which was not supposed to be there... Who was it – what do you think? 

The Chapel of St. Francis Xavier features an altar depicting the saint on his way from Japan to China on the Shangchuan Island. This painting inspired an important Czech writer Jakub Arbes to write his tale of St. Xavier in 1872, which you will hear at the end of our tour