Ghost Palace

Vladislav Hall

The tour wound us through the humongous Old Royal Palace, but we must have seen 60 locked doors or roped off staircases prohibiting access. It would have been nice to see the castle in its entirety instead of the 4 sparsely staged rooms that were part of the tour. The rooms that were open were quite large and airy, but were not furnished very well. I can forgive this because of the many signs along the tour informing visitors that much of the castle was damaged or destroyed during a fire. Perhaps they have only opened the rooms that have been restored since that fire, but as it was several hundred years ago, I can’t imagine it could have withstood time so well without some other repairs since then. We visited the Vladislav Hall, a grand ballroom type area, where many ceremonies of state occurred, including knights’ tournaments. These were made possible due to the riding stairs; shallow steps up to Vladislav Hall, allowing people to enter on horseback. My favorite room was the Regional Land Registry Office where scrolls of the state were kept, though they burned during the fire of 1541. However, the ceilings and wall in this room retain the emblems and shields of the clerks who worked there.

Regional Land Registry Office

Locked Door. You Just KNOW there is a Library Back There.

Defenestration Room

We also visited the most famous room of the castle, along with 30 Germans. The tiny, cramped, hot, crowded room was the scene of the Defenestration of Prague, a barbaric act preceding the Thirty Years War. We cowered in the corner until the tour left, but they didn’t take their heat with them. In this tiny room, Protestant Lords threw Catholic agents of the crown out the window. Even more amazing, they survived the 70 foot fall. There have actually been 3 instances of defenestration in Prague, but the instance described above is the most famous. Apparently the Czech/Bohemian people really enjoy throwing their enemies out windows.

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