Old Town Square

A marketplace since the 11th century, Old Town Square became the stage for Bohemia's bloodiest and most jubilant moments. On 21 June 1621, after the Protestant defeat at White Mountain, twenty-seven Czech noblemen and burghers were beheaded here; twenty-seven white crosses set in the pavement mark the spot. The square is ringed by Gothic, baroque and rococo facades and dominated by the twin black spires of the Týn Church, from whose balcony the Hussite king George of Poděbrady was proclaimed. In 1915 a brooding statue of the reformer Jan Hus was unveiled on the 500th anniversary of his burning. Today astronomers' crowds gather each hour beneath the Astronomical Clock.