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Easy-going Old Town

A level walk from the Powder Tower to the Old Town Hall (its tower has a lift). Historic paving is rough in places.

5 stops, about 21 minutes of walking, about 1.4 km. Level but cobbled. Check lifts and ramps on the day.

Map of the route Easy-going Old Town with the 5 stops numbered in order
The route and its stops. Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors.

1 Powder Tower

Staré Město (Old Town) · Czech name: Prašná brána

The Powder Tower is a Gothic gate begun in 1475 under King Vladislav Jagiellon. It was meant as a showpiece entrance to the Old Town, not as a defence. It is about sixty-five metres high. It got its name when it was later used to store gunpowder. The tower marks the start of the Royal Route, the path of the coronation processions to the castle. The Municipal House stands next to it.

2 Na Příkopě

Nové Město (New Town)

Na Příkopě, meaning On the Moat, follows the old moat of the Old Town, ten metres wide and eight deep, dug around 1234. The moat was filled in in 1760. The street became a grand promenade in the nineteenth century. The first horse tram ran here in 1875, and the trams stopped in 1985, when it became a pedestrian zone. Today it is full of shops, banks and shopping centres.

3 Church of Our Lady before Týn

Staré Město (Old Town) · Czech name: Kostel Matky Boží před Týnem

The Týn Church is the dominant Gothic landmark of the Old Town, with two towers about eighty metres high. The parishioners, among the richest burghers in the city, began the present church in the fourteenth century. The north tower was built in the time of George of Poděbrady and the south tower was completed in 1511. For two centuries it was a Hussite church. The astronomer Tycho Brahe is buried inside, under a red marble tombstone.

4 Old Town Square

Staré Město (Old Town) · Czech name: Staroměstské náměstí

Old Town Square has been the market and stage of Prague history for a thousand years. The Gothic towers belong to the Týn Church, and on the Old Town Hall is the astronomical clock. On the twenty-first of June 1621, twenty-seven Czech lords were executed here after the defeat of the Protestant uprising, and crosses in the pavement mark the spot. The big monument in the centre is of the reformer Jan Hus, unveiled in 1915.

5 Old Town Hall & the Astronomical Clock

Staré Město (Old Town) · Czech name: Orloj

The Old Town Hall began in 1338, and its astronomical clock, the Orloj, is documented from 1410. The clockmaker was Mikuláš of Kadaň, probably working to a design by the professor Jan Šindel. It shows the positions of the Sun and Moon, and several kinds of time. Every hour, twelve apostles pass the windows while a skeleton rings a bell. The clock was damaged in 1945 and was restored, most recently in 2018.

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