On Saturday, 17th of February, the Welcome Centre organized a tour of the Prague Castle for our researchers and their families, guided by Professor Alena Drebitková Malá from the Department of Languages. A nice sunny Saturday morning was the perfect time to go around the biggest castle complex in the world.
The tour started at the North entrance, and from there, we continued our way into the magnanimous St. Vitus Cathedral. Amongst many beautiful things, we saw modern 20th-century stained glass windows there, and among them was a window painted by the famous Czech painter Alfons Mucha. We also got to see the silver tomb of the Czech Catholic saint John of Nepomuk (Cs: Jan Nepomucký) and tombstones of Czech Premyslid kings and three members of the Habsburg family (two kings and a queen). Noticeably, the most important Czech Saint is buried in the cathedral – St.Wenceslas. The cathedral mixes Gothic (the old part), Renaissance (the wall with the organ in the transept) and Neo-Gothic (the new part) architectural styles. Its construction started in 1344 at the time of Charles IV and finished only in 1929. Yet another thing that our guide Alena pointed out was that the Last Judgement had been depicted twice, once outside in the mosaic above the Golden Gate entrance and once inside on the biggest stained glass window in the transept.
The next stop on our tour was the Old Royal Palace with the biggest medieval hall – Wladislav Hall. A peculiar and interesting detail at the way out of the hall was at the top of the old wide staircase, with a small opening. Allegedly, this w
as necessary to allow for the passage of horseback riders with tall helmets who were riding their horses into Wladislav Hall. In the Louis Wing (Cs: Ludvíkovo křídlo) of the palace, we passed two old but still functioning tiled stoves. We could just feel the warm and cosy atmosphere it must have created when someone entered the room on a cold winter day. The guide showed us the famous window where the 1618 defenestration of Prague took place. Two noblemen and their scribe were thrown out of the window there. Fortunately, they all survived the fall into the rubbish pit. The palace also holds replicas of the Bohemian Crown Jewels.
Our group then headed to the Romanesque Basilica of St. George. In this Basilica lie the remains of some of the first Premyslids, including St. Ludmila. One can also find a mural of this first Czech and Slavic woman saint inside the church. Being one of the oldest churches in the country, the Basilica of St. George has been restored and, to some extent, redesigned multiple 
The collection of old filmstimes.
The tour ended with a visit to the Golden Lane, which gets its name from the 17th-century goldsmiths and alchemists who supposedly lived there during the time of the emperor Rudolph II. The lane was very crowded, one of the reasons being that it is really narrow. Some houses have stairs that can be accessed to enjoy breathtaking views of the Stag Moat. House no. 19 in the Golden Lane is a project of the VDV charity of Olga Havlová, wife to the late Václav Havel, the first president of the Czech Republic. We were also amazed by the house where the owner had a collection of old films and film projection equipment. At the end of the Golden Lane stands the Daliborka Tower, which served as a prison in the Middle Ages.
History comes alive before your eyes when you have a guide as great as Alena with you. We thank her and all the participants for coming and recommend everyone who could not visit to go and see it all with their own eyes.