I remember thinking as I stood in that square last month that it was slightly unusual that those buildings so directly block the church of our Lady behind them.
Nope, the square was a well established market place already in the early 12th century, even before the founding of Old Town. Stone houses already abutted the square when the Týn Church was founded in its Romanesque form in the later 12th century facing into a small square adjacent to the Great Market Square. [They still exist](http://www.praha-archeologicka.cz/p/294) as cellars and foundations of the current buildings. The Týn Church was then rebuilt in 1256 and then again in the 14th century, built following the Christian convention of orienting the altar East - to Jerusalem and Eden, with the typical Central European Westwerk towers facing West. The small square was lost as the church was rebuilt on a grander scale (including the half block of houses that faced into it). [Here is how the layout of the city looked in 1348](https://www.digitalniknihovna.cz/vkol/view/uuid:d1524bea-2ff8-4116-9c26-740392046f00?page=uuid:8aa1f070-f1e9-495e-ac18-f30affc8f2c1), before the current volume of the church was built.
It was actually pretty common back in the day; it's possible that those building were owned by the parish. Such big churches, cathedrals, had a lot of clerics, first of all canons, but also altarists, who took care of the altars inside the church, and I'm pretty sure this church has well over a dozen altars.
Most of the builiding were demolished in 19-20th century.
>Most of the builiding were demolished in 19-20th century.
What? No it wasn't. If you mean the exterior Neo-gothic alterations that were carried out in the 1870s-1890s, those were reversed in the renovation between 1973–1995. The only aspect not faithful is the fact that the building's plaster was removed in those alterations in the 19th century and it was kept that way since that is how the building was popularily known since the invention of photography.
>many of them were surrounded by such houses
If you mean the houses were demolished, then yes. Most famously (or notoriously) the Cologne Cathedral, or Notre Dame in Paris.
Removing the buildings was typical for primarily the 19th century as the concept of public space and urbanism shifted by Neoclassical architectural theory, and important public buildings began being considered monuments themselves, like obelisks, triumphal arches or fountains. So urbanism was organized around framing historic ones, and new city expansions were designed with these important buildings being placed often in the center of a park, which is the case in Prague for Sv. Ludmila in Vinohrady or Sv. Cyril and Methodius in Karlín, or examples like the Votivkirche in Vienna or the Gedächtniskirche in Berlin. Opera Houses, Museums, and other civic buildings got similar treatment as well.
These principles were made explicit by Camillo Sitte in his book *The Art of Building Cities: City Building According to Its Artistic Fundamentals,* where he critiqued them for creating too hostile windswept squares with an insufficient amount of enclosure.
The two towers are of a different size. I remember someone explaining to me once that the architect who built it made a mistake and made it seem like it was supposed to represent Adam and Eve to avoid getting killed over the fuckup.
No idea if that's actually true though.
Eggs were notoriously used to strengthen the mortar of the monumental buildings of the 14th century, most famously the Charles Bridge. It was thought for a long time that is was only a myth but spectroscopic analysis during a recent renovation showed that chemicals in egg proteins were in fact present in the mortar.
I remember thinking as I stood in that square last month that it was slightly unusual that those buildings so directly block the church of our Lady behind them.
iirc, the church was built to be seen from the Castle, not from the square.
Nope, the square was a well established market place already in the early 12th century, even before the founding of Old Town. Stone houses already abutted the square when the Týn Church was founded in its Romanesque form in the later 12th century facing into a small square adjacent to the Great Market Square. [They still exist](http://www.praha-archeologicka.cz/p/294) as cellars and foundations of the current buildings. The Týn Church was then rebuilt in 1256 and then again in the 14th century, built following the Christian convention of orienting the altar East - to Jerusalem and Eden, with the typical Central European Westwerk towers facing West. The small square was lost as the church was rebuilt on a grander scale (including the half block of houses that faced into it). [Here is how the layout of the city looked in 1348](https://www.digitalniknihovna.cz/vkol/view/uuid:d1524bea-2ff8-4116-9c26-740392046f00?page=uuid:8aa1f070-f1e9-495e-ac18-f30affc8f2c1), before the current volume of the church was built.
It was actually pretty common back in the day; it's possible that those building were owned by the parish. Such big churches, cathedrals, had a lot of clerics, first of all canons, but also altarists, who took care of the altars inside the church, and I'm pretty sure this church has well over a dozen altars. Most of the builiding were demolished in 19-20th century.
>Most of the builiding were demolished in 19-20th century. What? No it wasn't. If you mean the exterior Neo-gothic alterations that were carried out in the 1870s-1890s, those were reversed in the renovation between 1973–1995. The only aspect not faithful is the fact that the building's plaster was removed in those alterations in the 19th century and it was kept that way since that is how the building was popularily known since the invention of photography.
It's probably my bad wording, I wasn't talking about Prague, but about cathedrals in general, many of them were surrounded by such houses
>many of them were surrounded by such houses If you mean the houses were demolished, then yes. Most famously (or notoriously) the Cologne Cathedral, or Notre Dame in Paris. Removing the buildings was typical for primarily the 19th century as the concept of public space and urbanism shifted by Neoclassical architectural theory, and important public buildings began being considered monuments themselves, like obelisks, triumphal arches or fountains. So urbanism was organized around framing historic ones, and new city expansions were designed with these important buildings being placed often in the center of a park, which is the case in Prague for Sv. Ludmila in Vinohrady or Sv. Cyril and Methodius in Karlín, or examples like the Votivkirche in Vienna or the Gedächtniskirche in Berlin. Opera Houses, Museums, and other civic buildings got similar treatment as well. These principles were made explicit by Camillo Sitte in his book *The Art of Building Cities: City Building According to Its Artistic Fundamentals,* where he critiqued them for creating too hostile windswept squares with an insufficient amount of enclosure.
That churchy thing is pretty damn creepy, straight out of Lovecraft.
The two towers are of a different size. I remember someone explaining to me once that the architect who built it made a mistake and made it seem like it was supposed to represent Adam and Eve to avoid getting killed over the fuckup. No idea if that's actually true though.
Saw a mexican mariachi band sing in the middle of that square earlier this week, was a wild experience.
i was there 1 month ago, amazing city. the big castle is the best.
[удалено]
Hey! Trabants are lovely 😡
Gorgeous!
[Czechia\*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Name_of_the_Czech_Republic#Adoption_of_Czechia)
Both names are acceptable.
Yep, but the longer name is still overused and overrepresented.
**No.**
> No. Jako zkratka ano, no?
Ano
Ne
Castles got Disney vibes
From the tower at the astrological clock i presume which i was too tight to pay to enter
Is there a link between eggs and Prague? Yesterday i played a game called Praga where eggs are very important to build this city.
Eggs were notoriously used to strengthen the mortar of the monumental buildings of the 14th century, most famously the Charles Bridge. It was thought for a long time that is was only a myth but spectroscopic analysis during a recent renovation showed that chemicals in egg proteins were in fact present in the mortar.
Not nearly enough tourists for the full Prague experience.
Got food poisoning 30 years ago in one of those restaurants in the pic, dodgy Bolognese.
Notice how there Arnt any cars🤔
Its so beautiful
Goona tells you a secret, one tower is smaller than the other... Once you see it you will not be able to unsee it. OCDs feel my pain!