Hradčany was its own town in the 14th Century. It became part of Prague
in 1598 and is today an outdoor museum of antiquities. At the center is a
column by Ferdinand Brokoff raised in 1728 to commemorate Prague's
struggle against the plague. Scwartzenburg
Palace and other examples of
baroque and rococo style residences make the area an architecture lover's
dream. West lays Loretánskí Náměstí, a square created in the 18th century when Cernin
Palace was built. The square's main
attraction is the Loreta, an extraordinary baroque place of pilgrimage designed
in 1626 to resemble the house of the Virgin Mary. It's surrounded by several
lovely chapels and a treasury, featuring the Prague
Sun, made of solid silver and plenty of gold and inlaid with 6222 diamonds.
Another must see place is Strahov Monastery, started in 1140 and completed in
the 18th century, which features a baroque church where Mozart is said to have
played, and the Strahov Library, with its unreal collection of tomes and
education-themed frescos. It was a functioning monastery until the communist
government closed the doors, imprisoning most of the monks. With the fall of
Communism, the monks have been trickling back in over the past few years.
Josefov
Josefov is what remains of Prague’s
once thriving Jewish ghetto. There are a half-dozen old synagogues, a
ceremonial hall and the Old Jewish Cemetery. The Old-New Synagogue, dating from
1270, is Europe's oldest working synagogue. One steps
down into it because it predates the raising of the streets against floods. The
Pinkas Synagogue, built in 1535, is inscribed with the names, birth dates and
dates of disappearance of 77,297 Bohemian and Moravian Holocaust victims. The
1868 Spanish Synagogue, named for its striking Moorish interior, offers an
exhibit on Jews in the Czech Republic
from emancipation to the present day.