Where in Prague: Sights that won’t cost a penny, and take you off the beaten track
There’s many places in Prague which are possible to enjoy without getting out your wallet. Lidové Noviny have prepared some tips for ‘trips’ where you won’t find yourself besieged by hundreds of tourists and which won’t cost you a penny.
Prague Castle and Charles Bridge are indeed pearls of the Czech metropolis but they’re known to everyone. Lidové Noviny found 10 places which you won’t find in any tourist guide.
1. The narrowest street in Prague
It’s possible that you’ve walked by many times and not even noticed it. It’s the narrowest street in Prague - not quite half a meter wide. It’s so narrow that pedestrian access has to be controlled by traffic lights as it’s not possible for two people to pass each other in the street. It doesn’t even have a name, but you’ll find it not far from Charles Bridge near the restaurant Čertkova in U Lužického semináře street. Take care to make a good appraisal of your proportions. Employees of the nearby restaurant still laugh when they remember how a portly German tourist got stuck in the street a few years ago. Apparently she couldn’t go forward or even back. After a few aborted attempts they had to grease her up so that she could better slide between the walls.
2. Baby Jesus and his wardrobe
Do you have a secret wish? So head down to the Church of the Virgin Mary in Karmelitská street. The small statuette of Jesus there is said to grant wishes. And those who don’t believe in miracles can go and have a look upstairs where available for viewing is the collection of embroidered dresses with which many of the Nuns dress the statue of Jesus. No other statue in the Czech Republic can boast such fine apparel. Some of the dresses are inlayed with jewels and others come from the Orient.
3. Second floor of the Cathedral
Everyone in Prague probably knows about the view from the tower of St Vita Cathedral. Do you know however that the Cathedral has a high ‘balcony’ half way up on the inside which offers a completely different view? It’s called the triforium and has around it’s edge busts by Petr Parléř. It’s possible to obtain access for free by arrangement with the church management.
4. Underground Petřín
The summit of Petřín is literally riddled with tunnels from the mining of coal and water extraction. There’s a few places where you can get access to this underground labyrinth. The mouth of tunnel ‘22’ opens near the site-seeing path which runs from the cable car stop Nebozízek towards Úvoz.
5. Vaults of the Czech National Bank
The Czech National Bank on Na Přikopě has opened up its vaults and made made an exhibition there entitled ‘People and Money’, There’s a special display case containing one tonne of pure gold and examples of fakes. The exhibition is free for everyone.
6. In the footsteps of Apollinaire
When the French poet Guillaume Apollinaire visited Prague in 1902 the thing that made the biggest impression on him was a single stone - agate in the wall of the Chapel of St. Václav in Prague Castle. The agate apparently strikingly resembles a human face and horrified Apollinaire when he recognised himself in it. It was following this moment that he wrote the tale of the Prague pedestrian. The stone is there to this day.
7 + 8. Czech History up close
You can get a look here at the Mercedes of Reinhard Heydrich and the blood spattered shirts of Jan Kubiš and Jozef Gabčík who in 1942 carried out an attempt on Heydrich’s life. The Army Museum in Vítkov is open every day excluding Monday and entrance is free. Following operation Anthropoid the assassins took shelter in the moments leading up to their death in the Church of St. Cyril and Metoděj in Resslová street. It’s still possible to see in the crypt the hole where the assassins tried to dig their way out.
9. Villa of the Capek brothers
Do you want to see where the Friday Club met? The place which gave birth to so many famous cubist pictures and novels? So head to Royal Vinohrady to the Villa of the Capek brothers. By agreement with the Society of the Capek Brothers it’s possible in small groups to visit this unique house and its interior.
10. A dog kennel as a monument
This rarity is made available by the Prague farmhouse Cibulka. They’ve got there 2 historically listed dog kennels.
