Jindřišská Tower: The Gothic Grandfather
Why is it significant?
Tilt your head back at the slim dark tower standing on its own beside the church, with its steep pointed roof and little corner turrets like a crown of spikes.
Key Facts
| Place | Jindřišská Tower: The Gothic Grandfather |
|---|---|
| Address | Jindřišská, 110 00 Praha 1, Czechia |
| Geo Coordinates | 50.08510, 14.43010 |
| Part of Walk | Gilded Leaves and Crystal Facades: Prague's Art Nouveau & Cubist Walk |
| Generated | Generated |
Tilt your head back at the slim dark tower standing on its own beside the church, with its steep pointed roof and little corner turrets like a crown of spikes. After all the gilded flowers, here is the grandfather of the neighbourhood, older than every Art Nouveau house around it by more than four hundred years.
Jindřišská věž, the Henry Tower, was built between around 1472 and 1476 as the bell tower of the nearby church of Saints Henry and Cunigunde. It stands apart from the church, which was common in medieval Prague, and at around sixty-six metres it is the tallest free-standing belfry in the city. Bells, a clock and a watchman, all in one stone column above the rooftops of the New Town.
The New Town itself was the big idea of Charles IV. In 1348 he laid out a whole planned city beyond the old walls, with vast market squares and wide streets, one of the most ambitious urban projects in medieval Europe. This parish, dedicated to an emperor-saint and his wife, served the craftsmen and traders who moved into it. The tower burned, was repaired, and in the nineteenth century was given a neo-Gothic makeover, which is why its silhouette looks so crisp and storybook-like today.
And here is the link to the rest of our walk. When the Art Nouveau architects of 1900 rebuilt this district, they were not rejecting the Gothic. They were in love with it... with its vertical lines, its craftsmanship, its idea that every handle and hinge deserves to be beautiful. Look back from the tower towards Wenceslas Square and you can see the new houses reaching upward with gables and spires of their own, answering the old belfry.
The tower has been restored in recent decades and opened to visitors, so the old watchman's world above the rooftops is no longer entirely off limits. From the foot of the tower, turn into Jeruzalémská, the side street running north. A few steps along it, prepare yourself for the most colourful facade in Prague.