How the Security Corps and the troops of the Interior Ministry prevented wayward Czech citizens from leaving the country in the ‘good old days’ before the Velvet Revolution. Fully illustrated!
Open: Tuesday to Sunday 10.00 to 17.00 hrs.
Na Prikope
This busy, pedestrianised shopping street takes its name from the moat which once formed a boundary between the Old and New Towns at this point. It’s a useful place to change money: there are banks at no 14, 20 and 28; or you can go to the Cedote office at no. 18. The International Bookstore is opposite the Aeroflot offices at no. 20. There is an AGFA one-hour photo developing service at no. 17 and a jewellers (as well as glass and porcelain shops) in the arcade at no. 12. If you are hungry, there are several places to eat, including the Moskva Restaurant on the first floor of no. 29 and the Arbat burger bar on the ground floor.
No. 15 is the children’s department store, Detsky dim. Most of the buildings in the street are v modern, for example the CKD Engineering Works at no. 1. One notable exception is the baroque Sylva-Taroucca Palace, designed in 1743 by Kilian Dietzenhofer. The upper end of the street leads, via 28 fijna and the Chram Palmy Marie Shaine (Church of Our Lady of the Snows), to Narodni and the National Theatre. The lower part of Na Ptikope leads directly to Stare Mesto (The Old Town) and Pra§na branca Powder Tower and is also handy for the TY1 Theatre and the Carolinum and is only a short walk away from the Municipal House.