Mostecka ulice by Vaclav Jansa - Prague, Czech Republic
Posted by: 
ToRo61
N 50° 05.237 E 014° 24.375
33U E 457524 N 5548504
Mostecka ulice // Mostecka Street and Bridge towers of Lesser Town
Waymark Code: WMTXJW
Location: Hlavní město Praha, Czechia
Date Posted: 01/19/2017
Views: 31
The Mostecka Street connects Lesser Town Square and Charles Bridge which is most probably how it got its name (bridge street) in the middle ages.The street is lively and picturesque with facades of Baroque buildings on both sides as well as many shops. The Mostecká Street was an integral part of the Royal Way, along which Bohemian Kings travelled to the Prague Castle.
Smaller Romanesque Judith’s Tower (on the right) is the most visible remain of Judith’s bridge. It ranks among the oldest preserved buildings in Prague . The tower sustains of 3 floors and it is built from arenaceous marl aisler. In 1591 the tower gained renaissance coat – roof gables on both sides of its pyramidal roof and graphite rendering. The height of the tower from the bottom to the top of its saddle roof is 29.3 m. Today the only available access to the tower is through the house No. 56, which is attached to the east side of. National cultural monument Judith’s Tower is also a unique landmark of Romanesque Prague. Relief from arenaceous marl represents fragments of two persons in real life size. One of the figures sits on throne and the other is a kneeling young man in the profile.
Club for Old Town gained rooms in Judith’s Tower in 1927 and is settled here until today. The club was established already on 28th January 1900 as a protest and defence against destruction of building and cultural values.
Lesser Town’s higher tower (on the left) was founded on 24th May 1464 in times of Czech king George z Podebrad. The tower is a very precocious monument of Prague Gothic of the era after Hussites. In its appearance the tower suppose to imitate its Old Town sister. Its wall niches were most probably made for statues of the founders – Kings Charles IV., Wenceslas IV. and George from Podebrady, who was the founder of this tower. The height of the tower from the bottom to the top of its roof is 43.5 m. Today the tower is in administration of Prague Information Services and is open for tourists. Different kinds of publications, city maps and souvenirs are available here.
The gate between towers sustains of two cuspidate Gothic parallel arcades. Upper edge of the gate is battlemented. Surfaces of the gate are decorated with emblems.
The author of this painting is Václav Jansa. You can find this painting in book 'Starou Prahou Václava Jansy' (
visit link) .
Vaclav Jansa (October 22, 1859 Slatinice - June 29, 1913 Cernošice) (
visit link) Czech landscape artist and illustrator, best known for these views, originally painted in water-colour.
Jansa was apprenticed to buyers, but later he devoted himself to his hobby of drawing and painting. Vaclav Jansa traveled a lot and took to painting landscapes. He painted mostly southern Bohemia and Giant Mountains. Since 1893 was redeveloped historic districts of Prague, Prague ghetto and parts of the Old and New Town. In this time Jansa painted cca 150 colored watercolors documenting disappearing part of the city.