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The strip of land below
Prague Castle,
bordered on one side by Petrín Hill
and on the other by the river Vltava, has
known human settlements since the dawn of
the czech civilisation. But it was not until
the 13th century that people started to build
fortified walls. Malá Strana became a town
with a large rectangular square. Also the
number of sacred buildings began to grow.
The town grew considerably under the reign of Charles IV, the Emperor who decided to build a new wall around the city. Remnants of what is known as the Hunger Wall (Hladová zed) are on the Petrín Hill. It reminds the people of the famine of 1360-1361 when harvests were very poor.
According to the legend Charles
started with the wall for humanitarian reasons.
He wanted to employ the people and supply
them the necessities of life. The English
traveller Edward Brown, who visited Bohemia
before the year 1677, wrote that in Malá Strana
there are many more beautiful houses and palaces
than in other quarters of Prague. This was
already written in the 15th century by the
legate of the Pope, Aeneus Silvius Piccolomini
in his work Historia Bohemiae. He was more
than generous with his praise for the attractiveness
and artistic value of the Czech buildings
in comparison with those in Florence.
The baroque period was followed by renovations in rococo style, classicism and empire. Reconstructions in the second part of the 19th century added more scars than improvements. In spite of everything, Malá Strana has kept its ancient trend and as for the groundplan it is still essentially a middle-aged city.
One of the
oldest spots is the Maltézské námestí, where
stood the Maltese Monastery. It was the first
in Bohemia that belonged to this order that
was founded in Palestine in the 11th century
to protect the Christians and to conquer once
more the Holy Land. The church of the Virgin
Mary at the End of the Bridge was later renamed
as church of the Virgin Mary under the Chain
(Kostel Panny Marie pod Retezem).
Two huge gothic towers remind us of the defensive
character of the Order's mission. Here stand
also the palace of the Maltese prior with
the Braun sculptures, the rococo Turba palace
and the Nostic palace.
On the Velkoprevorské námestí (Priory Square) are interesting palaces too. There on one wall used to be painted for a long time the face of John Lennon. This place used to be a symbol of fight for freedom during totalitarian period in our country.
