Old Town Hall

Prague's Old Town won the right to its own council in 1338, and burghers bought a corner house on the square to serve as a town hall, later adding the 70-metre tower that now carries the Astronomical Clock. From this building the Czech nation was governed for centuries, and its cellars held prisoners awaiting trial. In the closing days of the war, on 8 May 1945, retreating German troops shelled and torched the town hall's neo-Gothic east wing during the Prague Uprising; it was never rebuilt, and a green lawn now marks the gap. A lift and a viewing gallery at the tower's top reward visitors with a 360-degree sweep over red rooftops and spires.