Sightseeing in Prague ( Mala Strana)

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Although it was relatively cool in the morning, it became hot by the lunch time. My mother had broken her glasses which lens would turn darker when walking on sunny spots. She can walk and see the sight without glasses, but had cataract operations a few years ago. I rented her my prescription sunglasses to protect her eyes when walking over the Charles Bridge.



After the lunch, we headed for Charles Bridge via Rudolfilnum, which is the home for the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra.



As expected, Charles Bridge was very popular: it was populated with a large number of tourists, painters, musicians and arts & crafts vendors. This pedestrian bridge makes great impact for its sculptural ornamentation with 30 statues of revered saints. Tourists gathered around some of the famous saints – St John Nepomuk, St Luitgard and St Wenceslas. We could see a number of sightseeing boats and a couple of islands on the river and historic buildings on the Old Town’s side and Prague Castle on the Lesser Quarter’s side.







Charles Bridge led us to Mala Strana (Lesser Quarter) and bustling Mastecka Street. We arrived at Lesser Square and saw the building of St Nicholas Church, but found that we still needed to walk uphill to reach the entrance for St Nicholas Church. We were asked to pay for the small amount for the admission. As we remembered, this church possessed interior as a prime example of high Baroque with outstanding frescoes – the glorification of the saint and the Last Judgement, ornate sculptures and statues and superb painting collections and the big pipe organ surrounded by intricate carvings of different musicians. This organ was built in 1745–47, and it was said that W.A. Mozart played this organ during his stay in Prague. Part of the church was under the renovation work on 24 June 2017. The construction of this outstanding Baroque church lasted approximately one hundred years, and three generations of great architects – father, son, and son-in-law – worked on the church: Krystof Dientzenhofer, Kilian Ignac Dientzenhofer and Anselmo Lugago.

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Photos

Church of St Nicholas
Exquisite interior in high Baroque style