New Town Hall: Prague’s Historic New Town Administrative Centre
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.6
- Popularity
- Low
- Country
- Czechia
- Primary era
- Medieval
- External website
- Open
- Eras represented
- Medieval, Early Modern, Modern
- Civilizations
- Habsburg, Holy Roman Empire, Kingdom of Bohemia
- Site type
- Civic
- Remains
- Town Hall
On this page15 sections
History
Foundation and Hussite Revolt
New Town Hall is a historic town hall in Prague, Czechia, established in the 1370s as the principal public and political centre of Prague’s New Town. It was built during the reign of Charles IV, the fourteenth-century King of Bohemia and Holy Roman Emperor, whose rule brought major urban and architectural development to Prague. The building stood beside the former Cattle Market, later Charles Square, which Charles intended to become an important commercial centre and a worthy counterpart to Old Town Square. The town hall was consequently planned on a monumental scale.
Construction proceeded in stages. Work on the eastern wing along Vodičkova Street began in 1377 on the New Town cattle market and was completed in 1398. The southern wing, facing Charles Square, followed in 1411–1418 under Martin Friček and Master Kříž. Together, these works established the town hall as the civic centre of the expanding New Town.
On 30 July 1419, the building became the scene of the First Defenestration of Prague. A defenestration is the forcible throwing of a person from a window. After a sermon by the Hussite priest and political leader Jan Želivský, an armed crowd led by Želivský, with the Hussite commander Jan Žižka among its other leaders, demanded the release of imprisoned supporters of communion under both kinds, meaning the Christian Eucharist of both bread and wine. The precise provocation remains uncertain. A stone thrown from a town-hall window either struck the sacred vessels carried by the crowd or Želivský himself.
The crowd then stormed the building and threw the town burgomaster, a judge, and thirteen other council members from the windows. Those who fell were killed either by the impact or by the crowd. The event marked the beginning of the Hussite Wars, a period of religious and political conflict associated with the reform movement of Jan Hus. A second Prague defenestration took place at New Town Hall in 1483 and ended without injury.
Renaissance Rebuilding and Fire
The town-hall tower was laid out in 1451 and built between 1452 and 1456. In 1520–1526, Benedikt Ried led the rebuilding of the southern wing and principal facade in the Renaissance style. Lightning struck the tower in 1559, causing a fire that almost destroyed the town-hall buildings. A later storm damaged the tower’s cupola.
Boniface Wohlmut directed the recovery after the fire. During this work, the western and northern wings were built in the Renaissance style, while the eastern wing was remodelled in the same style. These interventions gave the complex a more unified Renaissance character while retaining earlier Gothic spaces.
Administrative and Judicial Uses
New Town Hall served as the administrative seat of the New Town until 1784. In that year, Joseph II, a Habsburg ruler and Holy Roman Emperor, united Prague’s four medieval towns as part of his administrative reforms. The city administration was concentrated at Old Town Hall, and New Town Hall was given new institutional functions.
The complex subsequently housed a criminal court, offices, and detention cells. Part of the building was remodelled in the Empire style between 1806 and 1811 to accommodate these uses, according to a design by Karl Schmit. The detention facilities held, among others, the Chod rebel leader Jan Sladký Kozina and participants in the 1848 revolution. In 1894, the building hosted the trial of members of Omladina, a progressive youth association.
Restoration and Modern Civic Use
Antonín Wiehl and Kamil Hilbert reconstructed the building in 1905–1906 with the aim of restoring its earlier appearance. The main facade received restored large grouped Renaissance windows belonging to the principal hall, together with restored Renaissance gables.
A modern adaptation in 1958–1959 created a wedding hall for Prague 2 in a ground-floor Gothic hall. New Town Hall was designated a National Cultural Monument of the Czech Republic in 1962. This is a high-level Czech heritage designation for sites considered especially important to the country’s cultural history. A major interior reconstruction carried out under Václav Girsa from 1976 to 1996 adapted the premises for the administrative needs of Prague 2.
Remains
Courtyard Complex and Principal Facade
New Town Hall stands at the corner of Vodičkova Street and the northern side of Charles Square in Prague’s New Town. The completed complex has four wings arranged around an arcaded courtyard, with the tower at the southeastern corner. Its fabric combines Gothic and Renaissance construction, while later alterations include the Empire-style remodelling of part of the interior. The courtyard contains a fountain and a well. The complex also includes a mazhauz, or entrance hall, and historic decorative details survive in the principal hall.
Gothic and Renaissance Halls
Southern Hall
The southern wing contains a two-aisled Gothic hall measuring 23 metres by 11 metres, with a ceiling height of 7 metres. Six vaulted bays are carried by two cylindrical pillars. The hall occupies almost the entire wing and has been restored in its original Gothic form. Its later adaptation as a wedding hall for Prague 2 created a modern civic use within this historic space.
Eastern Hall and Charles Square Facade
The eastern wing retains an extensive Gothic hall with a ribbed Gothic vault supported by Renaissance supports. On the exterior, the main facade facing Charles Square is marked by high gables and large grouped Renaissance windows. These windows, together with the gables, were restored during the reconstruction of 1905–1906.
Market Measure
After New Town received permission to hold regular markets, a standard Prague ell was installed on the facade of the eastern wing along Vodičkova Street. This metal linear measure is 591.4 millimetres long and was intended for use in market trading.
Town-Hall Tower
Tower and Prison
The six-storey town-hall tower rises approximately 69–70 metres and is reached by about 220 steps. Its ground floor served as a prison. The tower was laid out in 1451 and built in 1452–1456, becoming a major vertical element of the complex at its southeastern corner.
Chapel of the Assumption
The first floor contains the Gothic Chapel of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary and Saint Wenceslas. It was later remodelled in the Baroque style and also served as the last spiritual refuge of prisoners condemned to death. A fresco representing justice appears on its vaults or walls.
Upper Levels and Clock
The tower roof and viewing gallery were reconstructed in 1722–1725, and the gallery staircase dates from 1732. The uppermost floor served as the watchman’s dwelling from 1738. An astronomical clock in the tower was repaired in 1668.
