Old Town Square The Old Town of Prague was already inhabited even before the first written reports appeared. Later on it was gradually growing and it took a position between Prague Castle and Vyšehrad, the two centres of power of the Premyslid noble house
Old Town Square
The Old Town of Prague was already inhabited even before the first written reports appeared. Later on it was gradually growing and it took a position between Prague Castle and Vyšehrad, the two centres of power of the Premyslid noble house. Despite the fact the settlement on the right bank of the Vltava river had grown in the early Middle Ages, it was declared as a town during the reign of Wenceslas I in the 13th century. The Old Town Square as we know today was the dominant of the town. After the death of Charles IV. in 1371 the Old Town became the center of reform efforts and there was also the Bethlehem Chapel, where Master Jan Hus was a preacher. The strong influence of the Hussite movement in the Old Town remained until the 17th century and gradually disappeared after the defeat of the Estates' resistance in the Battle of White Mountain in 1620. What was the name of the Mayor of Kutná Hora, executed here on 21 June 1621? At the end of the Thirty Years' War in 1648, when the Swedes invaded Prague, the Old Town walls were defended against them and the town was not looted. In 1915, a statue of Master Jan Hus commemorating the 500th anniversary of the burning of the reformer was built in the middle of the square.
(Jan starší Šultys z Felsdorfu)