Malá Strana Square and St Nicholas

Malá Strana, the «Lesser Town», is the district spreading out below the castle. It was founded in 1257 and, after the Thirty Years' War, the Catholic nobility filled it with Baroque palaces. In the middle of its square stands the Church of St Nicholas, the masterpiece of Prague Baroque.

1A church of three generations

The Jesuits, who took over the old parish in 1625, laid the foundation stone of the new church in 1673. The nave went up between 1703 and 1711, probably to a design by Christoph Dientzenhofer; his son Kilian Ignaz designed the dome and chancel, and after his death in 1751 his son-in-law Anselmo Lurago completed the bell tower in 1752. Inside, Mozart played the Baroque organ, with more than four thousand pipes, in 1787.

2A belfry with ears

The bell tower did not belong to the Jesuits but to the town: the councillors demanded it in exchange for the land they had given up. Centuries later the communist regime found an unexpected use for it: the secret police, the StB, set up an observation post at the top to watch the nearby Western embassies and anyone going in or out.

In plain sight, in the tourist heart of Prague, a spy post operated for years.

Today the tower is open to visitors and recalls that period.

3What to look for

• The dome and the bell tower, almost the same height, side by side.
• The curved facade of the church, which seems to ripple.
• The Smiřický Palace, on the north side of the lower square, where the conspirators met on the eve of the 1618 defenestration.