Church of St Nicholas

Staré Město


The baroque wedding cake in the northwestern corner of Old Town Square is the Church of St Nicholas, built in the 1730s by Kilian Dientzenhofer (not to be confused with the Dientzenhofers’ masterpiece in Malá Strana). Considerable grandeur has been worked into a very tight space; originally the church was wedged behind the Old Town Hall’s northern wing (destroyed in 1945).

Chamber concerts are often held beneath its stucco decorations, a visually splendid (though acoustically mediocre) setting.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby Staré Město attractions

1. Art Gallery for Children

0.02 MILES

The clue is in the name: at the Art Gallery for Children the kids not only get to look at art, but make it, add to it and alter it. There are paints and…

2. Jan Hus Statue

0.06 MILES

Ladislav Šaloun’s brooding art nouveau statue of Jan Hus was unveiled on 6 July 1915, the 500th anniversary of Hus’ death at the stake.

3. Old Town Hall

0.07 MILES

Prague’s Old Town Hall, founded in 1338, is a hotchpotch of medieval buildings acquired piecemeal over the centuries, presided over by a tall Gothic tower…

4. Old Town Square

0.07 MILES

One of Europe’s most beautiful and busiest urban spaces, the Old Town Square (Staroměstské náměstí, or Staromák for short) has been Prague’s principal…

5. Old Town Hall Tower

0.07 MILES

The Old Town Hall’s best feature is the view across the Old Town Square from its 60m-tall clock tower. It's well worth the climb up the modern,…

6. Astronomical Clock

0.07 MILES

Every hour, on the hour, crowds gather beneath the Old Town Hall Tower to watch the Astronomical Clock in action. Despite a slightly underwhelming…

7. Kinský Palace

0.08 MILES

The late-baroque Kinský Palace sports Prague’s finest rococo facade, completed in 1765 by the redoubtable Kilian Dientzenhofer. Today the palace is home…

8. House at the Stone Bell

0.09 MILES

During restoration in the 1980s a baroque stucco facade was stripped away from this elegant medieval building to reveal the original 14th-century Gothic…