from the Václavské Námesti to the left by the Stephens Street we reach the church of that name, which was built by Charles IV., but has, like so many others at Prague, been greatly altered by restoration. It contains, however, some works of very ancient Bohemian painters that are very worthy of notice. Close to St. Stephen’s Church is the very ancient Romanesque Chapel of St. Longinus. Similar to the Chapel of the Holy Cross and that of St. Martin on the Vysehrad—which will be mentioned presently—it is, as Monsignor Lehner writes, ‘smaller and plainer and, therefore, probably even more ancient than the sister chapels.’
Retracing our steps as far as the angle of the Zitná Ulice, and proceeding down that street, we soon reach the extensive Karlovo Námesti, which has been laid out as a park, in which a monument to the Bohemian poet Halek has been erected. Opposite this monument, at the north-eastern extremity of this square, is a building, now the site of the law courts, which was once the town hall of the Nové Mesto. From the windows of this building the town councillors were thrown in 1419, an event to which reference has been already made.
This town hall, built under Charles IV., and a subsequent building in the Renaissance style that was afterwards erected here have long disappeared. The last-named building was demolished in 1806 by order of the Emperor Francis I., and the present uninteresting structure was erected. Of the old building a tower, formerly, probably, a campanile similar to that of the town hall of the old town, remains. It contains a chapel dedicated to St. Wenceslas, which is still in the same condition as it was in the fifteenth century.
From the Karlovo Námesti, following the Vysehrad
181
