The communist observation room
Used in the 1950s to watch Western embassies, displayed as it was.
giggel — CC BY 3.0 · Mike1979 Russia — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Mike1979 Russia — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Mike1979 Russia — CC BY-SA 3.0
An eighteenth-century bell tower attached to St Nicholas Church in Malá Strana, though it never belonged to the church. The detail that makes it interesting: the tower was built as city property rather than as part of the neighbouring Jesuit church, so it served as a watch post for fires and for enemies, and a town watchman lived in it with his family into the twentieth century. In the 1950s the communist security services used it to observe the Western embassies nearby — the observation room is still displayed as it was. So one tower carries three functions across two centuries: guarding against fire, then a family home, then a post for spying on the neighbours. The climb is a stone spiral stair to a platform looking over Malá Strana, Prague Castle and Charles Bridge from a rare close, high angle. The step count is high and there is no lift.
Used in the 1950s to watch Western embassies, displayed as it was.
A close, high view over Malá Strana, the castle and Charles Bridge.
A town watchman lived here with his family into the twentieth century.
Malostranské náměstí, beside St Nicholas Church
St. Nicholas ChurchSt Nicholas Church in the middle of the Lesser Town square is the summit of Prag1 minute walk4.8
Vrtba GardenThe Vrtba Garden is one of Prague's best-kept secrets: you go in through a small2 minutes walk4.6
Infant Jesus of PragueThe Church of Our Lady Victorious in the Lesser Town is a quiet early-17th-centu3 minutes walk4.8
Lennon WallIn a quiet side square in the Lesser Town, minutes from Charles Bridge, runs a l4 minutes walk4.2
Karel Zeman MuseumAn interactive museum about the Czech director Karel Zeman, on the riverbank in 4 minutes walk4.6No. The baroque church and the tower are separate buildings with separate tickets and different management, despite adjoining each other. The church is visited for its baroque interior and painted ceiling; the tower for the climb, the view and its story. Anyone wanting both buys two tickets.
The St Nicholas bell tower gives the closest view over Malá Strana and the castle. The Old Town Bridge Tower gives the best view of Charles Bridge itself. The Petřín tower gives the widest panorama of the whole city but is far out and high up. Choose by what you want to see rather than by height.