The Old Royal Palace

A cathedral, a basilica, a few residences… doesn’t it feel like there’s something missing from your Prague Castle tour? Something very important… a seat of power, in fact. That’s why we’re showing you this building, the Old Royal Palace. Although it looks much simpler than the other palaces in the city, none of them beat its historical significance. As early as the 9th and 10th centuries, there was already a wooden palace just a few meters from here. In 1135, Prince Soběslav I of Bohemia took a more serious approach to the site, reinforcing it with stone in a Romanesque style and adding the All Saints’ Chapel. From that era, only the dungeon vaults and fragments of the outer wall, and the ruins of a Romanesque tower have been preserved. The first floor was used as the throne room and the sovereign’s private chambers. Over the centuries, the royal palace underwent significant construction that largely shaped its current appearance. Ottokar II expanded the building, Charles IV rebuilt it after a devastating fire in the 14th century, and between 1492 and 1502, Vladislaus Jagiellon added the most impressive space in the palace. Vladislav Hall—the largest interior of a non-religious building in medieval Prague, blending Gothic and early Renaissance styles. Its ribbed Gothic vault, arranged in a rosette shape, is a rare beauty used for court celebrations, as well as presidential elections. In the palace wing in front of you, there are several other symbolic rooms. There is the Landtagsaal, which is the chamber of the Supreme Regional Court, featuring portraits of some Habsburg rulers. Then there’s the Bohemian Chancellery, the scene of a dramatic event in 1618… This event was the defenestration of two governors, suspected of stopping the construction of Protestant churches on royal lands at the emperor’s request. And let’s not forget the lower floors, which house a permanent exhibition on the castle’s history. This is where you can learn about Bohemian rulers from the 12th century onwards.