Prague Castle

Prague Castle sits on a rocky promontory above the Vltava River, commanding a panoramic view over every rooftop and spire of the city below. Stretching nearly 570 metres from east to west, it holds the official record as the world's largest coherent castle complex — a rambling city within a city that took more than a thousand years to reach its present form. Entering through the First Courtyard in Hradčany Square, visitors step into one of Europe's most charged cultural spaces, where architecture from the Romanesque to the Art Nouveau stands side by side across four interconnected courtyards.

The first fortified settlement on this site dates to around 880 AD, when Prince Bořivoj of the Přemyslid dynasty raised a wooden stronghold on the hill. Successive Přemyslid and later Luxembourg rulers expanded and rebuilt the complex in stone. The decisive transformation came under Charles IV, who became Holy Roman Emperor in 1355 and made Prague his imperial capital. Charles commissioned the Gothic rebuilding of St. Vitus Cathedral in 1344 and oversaw the construction of the massive defensive walls and towers that still define the castle's silhouette. The Jagiellon kings added the late-Gothic Vladislav Hall in 1502 — at the time the largest secular hall in Central Europe, wide enough for jousting tournaments on horseback. The Habsburg emperors, particularly Rudolf II, brought artists, astronomers, and alchemists to the castle in the late sixteenth century, giving the court of Prague a reputation as the intellectual capital of Europe.

Beyond its political history, Prague Castle is one of the most culturally layered sites in Central Europe. St. Vitus Cathedral contains the tombs of Bohemian kings and Holy Roman Emperors, including Charles IV and Wenceslas IV, as well as the crown jewels vault — though the jewels themselves are displayed to the public only on rare ceremonial occasions. The Golden Lane, a row of tiny pastel houses built into the castle wall in the sixteenth century for castle marksmen and later occupied by goldsmiths and fortune tellers, drew Franz Kafka, who briefly rented house number 22 in 1916–17. The Romanesque St. George's Basilica, consecrated around 920 AD, is the oldest surviving church in Prague. Today Prague Castle also serves as the official seat of the Czech president, making it one of the few active government palaces in the world where the public can freely walk through open courtyards.

The grounds and courtyards are freely accessible year-round from early morning until late evening, making it perfectly possible to soak up the atmosphere without purchasing a ticket. However, seeing the cathedral interiors, the Old Royal Palace, the Golden Lane, and the permanent collections requires a paid circuit ticket. A single Main Circuit ticket is valid for two consecutive days and grants access to all the key buildings, so there is no need to rush. The castle is in the Hradčany neighbourhood, on the west bank of the Vltava — easily reached by tram 22 or 23, which deposits visitors directly at the castle's western gate.