Fringed by historic houses and presided over by two great churches and the looming tower of the Town Hall, this spacious cobbled square is the very heart of the Old Town. From all directions, streets first traced in medieval times funnel people into what is Prague's most popular gathering place. In the past it has been the stage of some of the most dramatic moments in Bohemian history.

An irregular rectangle in shape, the square seems not to have been planned but to have evolved more or less spontaneously like the Town Hall itself.