InterContinental Prague

This outstanding complex of ambits, Nativity Church, Holy Shanty and tower with clock and world-famous glockenspiel has for more than 300 years been located in Prague - Hradcany. You can see the Prague Loretta not just as an historical sight from a architectual point of view, but also as a baroque pilgrim place.

You can still see the Prague meridian in the paving of the square. It indicates the place, where the former Marian column used to cast its shadow at noon. There is an inscription in Czech and Latin language, saying that time used to be measured according to the meridian.

The first stone-building built for theatre purposes in Prague was the building of the Stavovske divadlo - originally Nostic Theatre. This building has been built in the classic style between 1781 and 1783. Shortly after opening it became a world famous theatre. In 1787 Mozart's Don Giovanni was performed here for the first time and it was considered a great succes. Since that Mozart loved Prague very much and wrote some opuses for the citizens of Prague.

The origin of Prague goes back to the 7th century and the Slavic princess Libuse, a woman of great beauty and wisdom who possessed prophetic powers. Libuse and her husband ruled peacefully over the Czech lands from the hill of Vysehrad. A legend says that one day Libuse had a vision. She stood on a cliff overlooking the Vltava, pointed to a forested hill across the river, and proclaimed: I see a great city whose glory will touch the stars. She instructed her people to go and build a castle where a man was building the threshold (in Czech "prah") of a house. And because even the great noblemen must bow low before a threshold, you shall give it the name Praha.

At the New Jewish Cemetery there is the tomb of the famous Czech-born writer Franz Kafka. He wrote the highly regarded fictional novel ‘The Metamorphosis’ at Parizska 30, where the InterContinental Prague now stands.