In the Middle Ages, the vast open space now known as Old Town Square was a thriving market place, visited not only by the citizens of Prague but by traders from across Europe. Occupying centre stage is the dramatic statue of Jan Hus, erected in 1915 on the 500th anniversary of his-execution for heresy. Today Staromestske namesti provides a colourful backdrop for circus, music and political theatre. The optimism is infectious – a far cry from the nightmare of August 1968, when the square reverberated with the drone of Soviet tanks crushing the life out of the ‘Prague Spring’.
An enchanting medieval clock draws the crowds to a side wall of the Staromestska radnice (Old Town Hall). Its delicately balanced mechanisms contrive to give not only the time of day but the months and seasons of the year, the signs of the zodiac, the course of the sun and moon and much else besides. On the stroke of the hour, death, in the form of a skeleton, tolls a bell before Christ and the twelve Apostles emerge in procession. A cock crows above their heads and the clock strikes.
The Town Hall itself is made up of four adjoining houses: Mifflin’s House, granted to the burghers of the town by King John of Luxemburg and Bohemia in 1338, its superbly decorated portal windows framed by gilded escutcheons; the pink, Kb House, purchased in 1360 and later embellished with a stunning Renaissance window, inscribed ‘Praga caput regni’; the Mike’s House and the house At the Cock (U kohouta), Romanesque in origin but with a much later facade. Adjoining this range of buildings is a later edition, the house At the Minute (U Minuty), distinguished by its sgraffito decoration with classical and biblical motifs.
The Old Town Hall is open to the public. In the vestibule, on the ground floor, there are substantial remains of the original Gothic arcades and vaulting. A staircase leads to the council chamber, known as the Hall of the Mayors of the City. This handsome room, with its fine casetto ceiling, dates from 1470 and was once part of Wolflin’s House. The Gothic portals are copies. The adjoining chapel is the work of Peter Parler, who was also responsible for St Vitus Cathedral and the Charles Bridge. A nave with monumental walls and heavy ribbed vaulting leads, through a massive stone arch, to the presbyterium or sanctuary, which is decorated with frescos of heraldic designs, dating from the second half of the 14th-century. The portal bears the emblem of King Wenceslas IV – a textile ring with two kingfishers and the letter E (for Euphemia, his wife). An outstanding feature of the chapel is the modern stained-glass window, which bathes the floor and walls in a pool of coloured light. The Assembly Hall (1880) contains two paintings by the Czech artist, V Brozik – Jan Hus before the Council of Constance and The Election of George of Pode brady. Another flight of steps provides access to the tower.
Opposite the entrance to the Old Town Hall, is a cluster of splendid baroque houses built on Gothic or Romanesque foundations: (1. to r.) no. 25 the Dfirn U modre hvezdy (house At the Blue Star) with the restaurant U bindru (At the Binders); no, 26 house On the Stones; no. 27 (beyond the arches of Melantrichova) the house At the Ox; no. 28, formerly part of the Servile monastery; and no. 29, the house At the Golden Angel -note the oriel window, part of the original chapel. On the corner of Zelezna is the house At the Golden Unicorn (no. 20). Don’t be fooled by the 18th-century fronting – the foundations of the building are 800 years old. The main portal, decorated with lilies, dates from the 15th century and there are many other surviving medieval features. The composer Smetana founded a music school here in 1848.
The grey stone towers and pinnacles of Kostel Panny Marie peed TYnem (Church of Our Lady before Tyn) dominate the eastern side of the Square (access through the archways of the Tyn School). The present church was begun in 1365 and was completed only in 1457. For much of the 15th and 16th centuries it was in the hands of the Hussites, religious nationalists condemned by the Catholic Church for their belief in the Utraquist heresy, that communion should be taken in both kinds. It was not until the Battle of the White Mountain in 1620 that the Protestants were finally defeated, The interior is an uneasy compromise of Gothic and baroque styles. Most of the painting is 17th century, but there is a medieval Pieta in a side chapel at the east end. The pulpit and the tin font are also 15th century. Distinguished astronomer Tycho Brahe (1546-1601) is buried on the right-hand side of the church in front of the high altar. The tomb bears his likeness in marble relief.
The houses occupying the eastern side of the square, and partly obscuring the Tyn church from view, are also worth a closer look. The house At the White Unicorn (no. 15) has a cellar dating from the 12th century though its present appearance is 18th-century baroque. No. 14, with the lovely painting of the Virgin on the facade, is the Tyn School. Also medieval in origin, it was reconstructed in the 16th century in the style of the Venetian Renaissance (note the gables). The dazzling house At the Stone Bell (no. 13) was remodelled by John of Luxemburg early in the 14th century. The recently restored Gothic façade preserves much of the original sculptural detail, including the exquisite window tracery. The house Sign of the Bell can be seen at the right-hand corner, below the pediment. The decorative flourishes of the GolzKinskY Palace (no. 12) are rococo in inspiration and date from the mid-18th century. Nowadays the palace houses the National Gallery’s collection of graphic art.
Kostel svateho MikulaSe (Church of St Nicholas), on the far side of the square, actually predates the Tyn Church, although the present building is 18th-century baroque (1732-5). The elegant facade, with its sleek lines and fine proportions, implies a more ample interior than is in fact the case. Since 1920 the church has belonged to the Hussite Community. The novelist Franz Kafka was born next-door.