ABSTRACT
At its heart, Prague’s Staromeˇstské Námeˇstí or Old Town Square is a medieval square formed at a trading route’s crossroads. While it has changed little for several centuries, in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries it underwent several dramatic alterations. From 1893 to 1896, the city revitalized the northern Jewish quarter of the old city and cuts through the wide Parizska Street from the Vltava river to the square. Until that time, all streets leading into the square were similar to those on the other three sides. The mid-twentieth century saw the destruction of the Town Hall’s north wing which defined the square’s western edge (Stankova et al. 1992: 42). Today, the square is defined by a variety of buildings including Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque houses and is dominated by the Gothic Church of Our Lady Before Tyn to the east, the Town Hall (Staromeˇstská Radnice) to the west and the Baroque St. Nicholas Church to the northwest.
