Old Royal Palace

Part of the Royal Palace that is open to the public is also the Old Royal Palace where the famous 2nd defenestration took place, an incident that opened the curtains of the 30 Years’ War.

The Old Palace became the sovereigns’ seat in the early 12th century when the original wooden building on the site was converted into a stone Romanesque palace. In the first half of the 14th century Emperor Charles IV turned it into a Gothic palace which was deserted for 80 years until 1483, when Vladislav Jagiello returned and commenced the last large-scale reconstruction of the palace. He would add the most notable of its features, the largest secular space in medieval Prague, the magnificent Vladislav Hall.