Old Town Square (Staroměstské náměstí)
Old Town Square (Staroměstské náměstí) is one of the narrated stops on the self-guided Prague audio walking tour in Gingerguide. Plan about ~20 min here. Press play at the spot for its two to three minute story, or ask the AI guide anything about it.
- Type square
- Suggested visit ~20 min
- Prague Prague guide
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About Old Town Square (Staroměstské náměstí)
Prague's historic Old Town marketplace, ringed by Gothic and Baroque façades, centred on the Jan Hus monument and dotted with twenty-seven crosses recalling the executed leaders of 1621.
Staroměstské náměstí, the Old Town Square, has been the beating heart of Prague's Staré Město since it opened as a marketplace around the twelfth century. Ringed by townhouses that slide from Romanesque through Gothic to Baroque, it gathers the city's landmarks around a single expanse of cobbles: the Old Town Hall with its astronomical clock, and the twin Gothic towers of the Church of Our Lady before Týn.
At the centre stands Ladislav Šaloun's Art Nouveau monument to the reformer Jan Hus, unveiled in 1915 on the five-hundredth anniversary of his execution at the Council of Constance. Near the town hall, twenty-seven white crosses set into the pavement recall the leaders of the Bohemian revolt put to death here in 1621, after the Protestant defeat at the Battle of White Mountain. A slim brass line in the cobbles marks the old Prague Meridian.
Did you know? Guides love to say Jan Hus burned on this square, but he actually died at the Council of Constance in 1415; his defiant bronze arrived here five centuries later, in 1915.
How long should you spend at Old Town Square (Staroměstské náměstí)?
Plan about ~20 min at Old Town Square (Staroměstské náměstí). That is enough to take it in and hear its narrated story; stay longer if it grabs you. The tour is self-guided, so there is no rush.
Is Old Town Square (Staroměstské náměstí) worth visiting?
Old Town Square (Staroměstské náměstí) is one of the 35 sights the Gingerguide team researched and narrated in Prague, so it earns a place on a self-guided walk. Its story explains why it matters, and you can ask the AI guide anything the story leaves open.
Nearby stops in Prague
Day 2 of the Prague in 2 days itinerary →Day 2 of the Prague in 3 days itinerary →
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Hear the story of Old Town Square (Staroměstské náměstí)
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