Old Royal Palace — Attraction in Prague

The Old Royal Palace (Czech: Starý královský lác) is part of the Prague Castle, Czech Republic. Its history dates back to the 12th century and it is designed in the Gothic and Renaissance styles. Its Vladislav Hall is used for inaugurations, being the most important representative hall in the country. It is also home to a copy of the Czech crown.This palace was the seat of Bohemian princes and kings until the 16th century. It was built on the remains of the Romanesque Soběslav Palace. Most notable is the Gothic Vladislav Hall – the largest secular space of medieval Prague (1487 – 1500, Benedikt Rejt) with remarkable rib vaulting, used today as the venue for ceremonial state events. In the first half of the 14th century, the king and emperor Charles IV enlarged the Romanesque building and so a Gothic palace with a vaulted interior for state purposes and a band of arcades on its northern side came to be. During the reign of his son Wenceslas IV, two perpendicular wings were added and All Saints' Chapel was reconstructed. The palace was deserted for entire eighty years of the stormy 15th century. After 1483, the king Vladislav Jagiello returned to Prague Castle and commenced the last large-scale reconstruction of the palace. The magnificent solemn Vladislav Hall was added to it and when designing it, the architect Benedikt Ried combined the art of the Late Gothic with elements of the newly arriving Renaissance style. The perpendicular palace wing named after Vladislav's son Ludvig is also the work of B. Ried. After the succession of the Habsburgs to the Bohemian throne, the interiors of the Old Royal Palace were used for coronation festivities and diets and as conference rooms, offices and depositories. New dwelling quarters were built to the west of the palace, in the southern part of the Castle complex. After the catastrophic fire which occurred in 1541, the Diet and All Saints' Church were rebuilt. The Theresian Wing originated in the course of the reconstruction of the Castle in the 18th century. During the 20th century it has been subjected to several reconstructions. In 1993 it was adapted for exhibitions of...

The Old Royal Palace at Prague Castle is one of those places where I could really feel the weight of history. Unlike some palaces that are packed with extravagant furniture and gold-covered walls, this one is more about the architecture and historical significance, and that made it even more fascinating.

Walking into Vladislav Hall was incredible. It’s huge, with these high vaulted ceilings that make it feel even grander. I could just imagine the banquets, jousting tournaments, and coronation ceremonies that took place here. The size and scale of it alone made it one of my favorite parts of the visit.

One of the most interesting spots was the infamous window of the Defenestration of Prague. It’s wild to stand there and think about how in 1618, a couple of royal officials were literally thrown out of that window, which set off the Thirty Years’ War. That kind of history is what makes this place special—you’re not just looking at old rooms; you’re standing where major world events happened.

Another highlight for me was the New Land Rolls Room, which had all these coats of arms and symbols of Czech nobility. It gave a cool insight into the political and legal history of the country, which I hadn’t really thought about before visiting.

The palace itself isn’t overly decorated, but that’s part of the appeal. It’s more about the history than luxury, and that made it feel authentic and powerful. If you’re visiting Prague Castle, the Old Royal Palace is definitely worth seeing. I’d recommend taking your time and maybe even doing a guided tour because there’s a lot of history here that’s easy to miss if you just walk...

The Old Royal Palace has stood on the castle acropolis since the 9th century, when Bohemia was still a duchy. Most traces of that early residence are gone, but what survives is no less dramatic. Step inside and the vast Vladislav Hall (1502) by Benedikt Rejt still impresses - a secular hall so large it could host knightly tourneys on horseback. Its ribbed vaults sweep in bold curves overhead, part Gothic, part Renaissance, all Prague. Today the same space stages presidential elections and concerts, though the air of ceremony remains.

Beyond lies the Chancellery, where the Bohemian Estates once assembled beneath painted crests and shelves of Land Rolls: the kingdom’s official record of privileges, disputes, and contracts. It was here, in May 1618, that a quarrel over religious freedom flared into defiance. Catholic regents, accused of blocking Protestant chapels, were seized and hurled from a third-floor window in the infamous Second Defenestration of Prague. They survived the 21-metre fall, Catholics claiming divine aid, Protestants insisting on dung heaps below. Either way, the act lit the fuse for the Thirty Years’ War, one of Europe’s bloodiest conflicts.

Other chambers speak more softly: painted genealogies of noble families curling across walls and ceilings; the Diet Hall where newly crowned kings received homage after their coronation across the courtyard in St. Vitus Cathedral; the Iron Door through which scribes once carried Land Rolls into session. Taken together, the palace is less a single monument than a palimpsest of Czech political history - jousts, diets, defiance, and decrees all...