A complex of buildings on Old Town Square in Prague, the seat of the Old Town administration and, from 1784, of the administration of all Prague, with a tower and an astronomical clock.*
Old Town Hall is a complex of buildings on Old Town Square in Prague, formed by joining together burgher houses acquired over time.[1] The Prague Astronomical Clock.[1] The town hall is a national cultural monument.[2]
History
The establishment of a town hall for the Old Town was permitted by King John of Luxembourg in a privilege issued at Amiens on 18 September 1338.[1] The tower was completed in 1364. The chapel on its first floor was consecrated on 4 August 1381 by Bishop Hynek Vladimiřský.[3][1] The astronomical clock was installed on the town hall in 1410.[2] In 1458 the nobility elected George of Poděbrady King of Bohemia here. After the Battle of White Mountain the town hall served as a prison for the leaders of the Estates' uprising, 27 of whom were executed on the square on 21 June 1621.[3] After the four Prague towns were united in 1784, the town hall became the seat of the joint city administration.[3] Weddings have been held here since 1871.[3]
The year 1945
During the Prague Uprising the town hall was a centre of the resistance, and the Czech National Council worked in its basement.[4] In May 1945 the town hall was shelled and set on fire. The east and north wings opposite the Church of Our Lady before Týn were destroyed, and the tower with the astronomical clock and the chapel were severely damaged.[3] The east wing, the so-called Sprenger wing, had to be demolished.[2] For the 30th anniversary of the liberation the collapsed part was landscaped and supplemented with memorial plaques.[3]
Structure
The core of the town hall is the Gothic corner house of Volfin of Kámen from the end of the 13th century, to which a square tower was added.[3] The cellars of the south front come from a Romanesque courtyard of the 12th century.[2] The Renaissance triple window of the neighbouring house bears the inscription Praga caput regni.[3][5] The complex also includes the House At the Minute, with sgraffito from the early 17th century.[3] A glass lift was installed in the tower during a reconstruction completed in 1999.[1]
The present day
The town hall with its tower and historic interiors is open to the public through Prague City Tourism. The tower's gallery is at a height of 42 m.[3] The Monument Catalogue of the National Heritage Institute has listed the town hall as a cultural monument since 1958.[2]