Lesser Town Square is the center of the Lesser Town in Prague, in Prague the first fact, it is rather a pair of square, separated church and its associated block of houses.
In the past, this square bore different names (Market Square, Lesser Town Square, St. Stephen's Square, also square Marshal Radetzky Radetzky or square, as there was in the years 1858-1919 monument famous Austrian commander Marshal Jan Josef Vaclav Radeckého of rows).
In the past the market square served as a space for social events (used to be here in the past, such as gallows or pillory). The upper part of the square is also used to say Italian set, according to Lesser Vlachs (Italians) who are offering their products and goods. Since 1283 stood at Market Square Gothic parish church of St. Nicholas.
2 June 1541 broke out in the house "The bastion", which was the site of today Sternberg Palace on the north side of the lower part of today's square, a fire that destroyed two-thirds of home Lesser and northern part of the Prague Castle. Restoring pressed Lesser features walnut Renaissance.
After 1620 the church. Nicholas including parsonage passed the Jesuits and the Lesser translated to the adjacent parish church of St. Wenceslas. Jesuits in the parish in 1626 established his professional home and opened in 1628 near the primary school and lower secondary school. Bought up by a larger number of houses, lands and gardens in the area, some of the old buildings, including the original Gothic church. Nicholas and the church of St. Wenceslas, parishes and schools demolished and in 1673 laid the foundation stone of the new church and career building. In the corner of the new professional house was built a new church of St. Wenceslas.
Construction of a new, baroque church of St. Nicholas is delayed, however, started up in 1703 and gradually proceeded to the sixties, when it ended with decorations. House at the Three Swans on the north side of the square, which the Jesuits bought in 1629 and since 1654 used as a school, in the years 1711-1724 under the leadership of Christopher Dientzehofer rebuilt the educational complex with classrooms, rooms for accommodation and boarding pupils, chapel and theater hall. In 1787, the original Jesuit grammar school connected with the building of the court chamber and rebuilt for the royal governorship, and later served Regional Office, Ministry of Interior and the Chamber of Deputies today.
In the 19th century it was at the bottom of the square erected a monument to Marshal Radeckému, at the end of the century added a new house on the corner of Lesser unions and the Bridge street chemist with Neruda House Black Eagle family Frágner, who founded today's Zentiva. Notable was the introduction of tram lines that connected the left bank Holešovice and Smichov, at that time intensively developing. Because the line was extended mouth and pulling Karmelitská street called. Breakthrough U keys.
The square is comprised of two parts, the upper (western) and lower (eastern), which are separated by the building of the Baroque church. Nicholas, who is one of the landmarks of Lesser, a Jesuit professional house, today the building of Mathematics and Physics Faculty, on the north side of the house is a restaurant professional. To the east of the church, adjacent buildings still špalíček.
On the northwest corner of the square follows Neruda Street rising to Hradčany west, north Castle street (follow her on Castle Stairs) in the south passage leads into Market Street.
In addition to the Professional House and St. Nicholas on the east side of the square is bordered by the Faculty of Music of the Academy of Performing Arts in Liechtenstein and Hartig Palace on the west side. The building houses a theater Inspiration and restaurants. To the north is the House of the Black Eagle, which had a pharmacy Frágner family, the founders of today's Zentiva former Jesuit secondary school (no. 1), now part of the House of Commons.
The area of the square stands the Plague Column of the Holy Trinity with statues of the Virgin Mary and the saints by Czech sculptor Jan Ulrich Mayer and F. Geiger designed by Giovanni Battista Alliprandi 1717 in memory of disappearance of plague in 1713 after a famine in 1772, the column was supplemented by IF Platzer sculptures. The remaining area is largely used for parking, but especially dedicated.
North of the street leading Sněmovní and Tomášská, east Letenská and the Bridge Street toward the Charles Bridge (Route Royal Road), south street Karmelitská.
On the west side is špalíček home one furthest reaches Grömling Palace (House at the Stone Table), where the former Malá Strana café frequented by leading personalities of Czech culture. Since 2008, it houses the American cafe chain Starbucks. On the northern side of the palace Smiřických, Sternberg Palace and Helikovský house belongs to the complex of the House of Commons. On the east side there is Kaiserštejnský palace (no. 37, no. 23), which in the years 1908 to 1914 she lived opera singer Ema Destinnová. In the same block is also building Lesser discussions (formerly the Lesser Town Hall, no. 21). On the south side there are several restaurants (U Glaubiců, Czech pub ad.) And music club, Studio Ruby.
The space between the bottom of the square Tram tracks and the house fills professional paid public parking. In places tram stops from 1858 became a monumental bronze statue of Marshal Radetzky carried on the shield soldiers from Joseph and Emanuel Max's, but that was due to protirakouským moods and urging the Italian government in 1919 removed and stored in the Lapidary. We are considering placing a copy in the square, but this idea has its opponents, such as Legionnaires community.
In the summer of 1883 at the Bridge Street Square brought the horse-drawn tram track from the National Theatre in 1905 and was electrified in 1908. In the years 1908-1909 led through the Lesser Town Square, Prague's first and probably the Czech bus. From 22 December 1900 to Lesser Town Square brought a tram line from Újezda, already built like an electric, but initially it temporarily went Konka. Since June 24, 1901, the track followed by a pair of single-track lines to Klar, in 1926, however, the college was in the street Tomasská and Waldstein street and track canceled Letenská Street zobousměrněna.
At present, the square serves mainly urban tourism, but is also a major transportation hub Lesser, because the narrow and steep streets of Mala Strana are not serviced by public transport. January 13, 2010 was introduced elektrobusová line 292, which stops at each end of the square (on top of the stop Neruda) and connects to the hospital under Petřínem.
Tram line following the left bank of the Vltava River is led by Letenske Street, which is the square mouthed pair of narrow passages, one of which passes through the northern latitudinal split rail tram line. The track leads through the lower part of the square, which leaves the south after Karmelitská street. On the north and south side of the square is controlled by traffic lights.
t:source: http://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malostranské_náměstí