Instant Cities: Prague

Prague › Places and landmarks

Places and landmarks in Prague

13 landmarks of Prague, and the streets, squares and waterways around them, each with its story and where to find it.

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Photo: Godot13, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Landmarks

Old Town SquareThe great square of the Old Town, with the Týn church, the astronomical clock and the Jan Hus memorial. Astronomical clockMade in 1410: every hour the twelve apostles pass its little windows while Death rings his bell. Týn ChurchThe Gothic church with two spiky 80-metre towers, behind the houses on the Old Town Square. Charles BridgeThe stone bridge of 1357 across the Vltava, lined with thirty statues of saints. Old Town Bridge TowerThe Gothic gate tower at the Old Town end of the Charles Bridge, one of the finest in Europe. KlementinumThe vast Jesuit college beside the bridge, with a Baroque library hall and an astronomical tower. JosefovPrague’s Jewish Quarter, with old synagogues and the Old Jewish Cemetery. Old-New SynagogueBuilt around 1270, the oldest synagogue in Europe still in use. RudolfinumThe neo-Renaissance concert hall on the Vltava, home of the Czech Philharmonic. Powder TowerA Gothic gate tower of 1475 at the start of the Royal Route, once used to store gunpowder. Prague CastleThe castle on the hill across the river, the largest ancient castle complex in the world; beyond this map.

Also part of Prague

TramsThe red and cream trams that rattle along the river and across the bridges. Czech beerCzechs drink more beer per person than anyone; the pilsner was born in Bohemia.

Streets, squares and waterways

The places that hold the centre of Prague together. Point at one to find it on the map.

Old Town Square1 Celetná2 Fruit Market3 Na Příkopě4 Wenceslas Square5 Národní třída6 Karlova7 Knights of the Cross Square8 Charles Bridge9 The Vltava10 Kampa11 Jan Palach Square12 Pařížská13 Josefov14
The centre of Prague, drawn from the same OpenStreetMap data as the game. The whole city on OpenStreetMap
  1. 1
    Old Town Square Staroměstské náměstí square

    The heart of the Old Town since the Middle Ages, between the Týn Church and the Old Town Hall with its astronomical clock. The memorial to Jan Hus stands in the middle.

  2. 2
    Celetná street

    The first stretch of the Royal Way, the coronation route of the Bohemian kings, from the Powder Tower to Old Town Square.

  3. 3
    Fruit Market Ovocný trh square

    The old fruit market in front of the Estates Theatre, where Mozart’s Don Giovanni had its première in 1787. The Carolinum, the oldest building of Charles University, stands beside it.

  4. 4
    Na Příkopě street

    A shopping street on the line of the moat that once divided the Old Town from the New Town. Its name means ‘on the moat’.

  5. 5
    Wenceslas Square Václavské náměstí square

    The long horse market of Charles IV’s New Town, climbing to the statue of St Wenceslas and the National Museum. Praguers gathered here in 1918, 1968 and 1989.

  6. 6
    Národní třída street

    The avenue from the National Theatre on the Vltava to the edge of the Old Town. On 17 November 1989 riot police beat a student march here, and the Velvet Revolution began.

  7. 7
    Karlova street

    A crooked lane of the Royal Way that winds from the Old Town to Charles Bridge, past the walls of the Klementinum.

  8. 8
    Knights of the Cross Square Křižovnické náměstí square

    The small square at the Old Town end of Charles Bridge, between the Old Town Bridge Tower, the Klementinum and the church of the Knights of the Cross.

  9. 9
    Charles Bridge Karlův most bridge

    The stone bridge over the Vltava that Charles IV began in 1357, lined with thirty statues of saints. Until 1841 it was Prague’s only bridge across the river.

  10. 10
    The Vltava Vltava waterway

    The longest river in the Czech Republic, between the Old Town and the Lesser Town. Smetana set it to music in his symphonic poem Vltava.

  11. 11
    Kampa quarter

    The island on the Lesser Town side of the river, cut off by a narrow millstream, the Čertovka or Devil’s Stream, with a park and old mill wheels.

  12. 12
    Jan Palach Square náměstí Jana Palacha square

    The riverside square in front of the Rudolfinum concert hall, named after the student who set himself on fire in 1969 in protest against the Soviet occupation.

  13. 13
    Pařížská street

    The broad avenue that the city cut through the Jewish Town around 1900, from Old Town Square to the Vltava, lined with Art Nouveau houses and expensive shops.

  14. 14
    Josefov quarter

    The old Jewish Town, named after Emperor Joseph II. The city tore most of it down around 1900 but spared its synagogues, its town hall and its old cemetery.

  15. 15
    Prague Castle Pražský hrad building

    The castle on the ridge across the river, seat of the Bohemian kings and today of the Czech president, with St Vitus Cathedral inside its walls.

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