Karlovo Namesti (Charles Square)

Today Karlovo náměstí, Prague’s largest square, and one of the largest square in Europe, with an area of 80 550 m2, has a very rich history. For a long time the square bore the name „The Cattle Market,“ and formed the main public space of the city. It was for the privilege of holding the livestock markets for the entire city. Another important commercial commodity was fish. Here stood slanečková (kipper fish house) shed, where fish was sold by foreign merchants. Karlovo náměstí (Charles‘ square) was briefly a major European Christian pilgrimage site after its foundation in 1354 . The main reason was the Emperor Charles IV who was noted for his passion of collecting holy relics. Every year during the Easter holiday, it was allowed to show the imperial crown jewels and relics of saints. These pilgrims were shown the relics from a wooden tower, which was rebuilt annually for this purpose . At the end of the 14th century, the wooden structure was replaced by the stone Gothic chapel of Corpus Christi, but had was demolished in 1791 by Josef II in hiss reforms as unnecessary-. In Today’s form, Charles Square is largely shaped as a the park design. Here we find the old chestnut trees, plain trees, flower beds, playground, benches, fountains and statues of several important figures of Czech history – Eliška Krásnohorská, Karolína Světlá , Jan Evangelista Purkyně and others.