The lesser town without barriers

Klárov → U Lužického semináře → Kampa →

This circuit starts at the Klárov transport junction. The Malostranská tram stop is partially accessible, the Metro station of the same name is not.

The route will first take us through a traffic-light crossing with low kerbs in Letenská street, but the street surface is coarse, as well as having tram tracks to overcome. In U Lužického semináře street there is a walkway with mostly mosaic paving and a combination of slopes and inclines (transverse slope up to 5%, incline up to 4%), in some places we also have to get past the entrances to adjacent buildings, traversing a rough surface and a more pronounced transverse slope.

Through a relatively inconspicuous entrance in the perimeter Baroque wall we get to Vojanovy sady. These grounds have the character of an English park and, in addition to ornamental trees and three Baroque chapels, free-range peacocks are an indisputable attraction here. Vojanovy sady have a children’s playground and sanitary facilities with an adapted toilet. However, an unsuitable ramp leads to the public toilet (incline as much as 18%).

Taking the street U Lužického semináře we reach a small square. From the crossing with Míšeňská street, where we will leave the walkway on a sloped kerb, we will have to continue along the roadway, over rough historical paving. (However, vehicular traffic here is moderate, and drivers are mindful of the tourists typically milling about on the Lesser Town streets)

The route continues under the arch of the Charles Bridge to Kampa, where the surface of the roads is up of smaller granite
cubes or asphalt.

Kampa is a small island that was separated from the Lesser Town by an artificial Vltava canal, the Čertovka or ‘devil’s gulley’. The construction of what was originally the Rožmberk millrace made it possible to regulate the flow of water to the mills, some of which survive to the present day. One of them is Sova’s Mills, which has been extensively rebuilt, including modern-day additions and is now the Kampa Museum with notable collections of 20th century artworks. The space by the eastern brick wall offers bench seating and a beautiful view of the river and Charles Bridge. Access to public toilets with a well-suited WC is again complicated by an inappropriate ramp (incline 15%).

→ Maltézské náměstí Square → Prokopova → Karmelitská →

Along the asphalt road from Kampa we will go across the bridge over Čertovka to the quiet Nostic Palace garden. We will go through it to Nosticova street, where we have to cross a quiet but coarsely paved road. We can continue along the right walkway with mosaic paving to Maltézské n8m2st9 square. Nestled around it are a number of smaller palaces. The most important and largest of them is the Baroque Nostic Palace, decorated with a cornice featuring statues of emperors, and a Rococo portal.

We will use the low kerb crossing at the end of Lázeňská street to turn into Prokopova street. We’re sure to enjoy a look back, to see at least from a distance the Church of Our Lady beneath the Chain, which is one of the most remarkable sacral monuments in Prague.

Following the right-hand pavement, which has a very pronounced crosswise slope in places, Prokopova street leads into Karmelitská street. We can look along this street to see the Church of Our Lady Victorious on the left. Originally a late Renaissance Lutheran church, it was rebuilt in the Baroque style by the Carmelites after the Battle of White Mountain. Of world renown here is the revered wax statue of Infant Jesus, the ‘Child of Prague’, a Spanish work from the 16th century. By the end of March 2025, there should be a ramp to make the church wheelchair accessible. Sova’s Mills 28 the lesser town the lesser town 29 In the opposite direction, Karmelitská street on the right walkway will lead us to Malostranské náměstí square, dominated by the Church of St Nicholas, the outstanding work of Kryštof and Kilián Ignác Dientzenhofer, the father and son master builders of the Baroque period. The church is not wheelchair accessible.

→ Malostranské náměstí Square → Letenská → Klárov

Through the arcade on the south-eastern side of Malostranské square we will approach Mostecká street.

Here again we can digress off our route and head to Charles Bridge. We will go along the right side of Mostecká street along a wide walkway with mosaic paving. The crossing over at Lázeňská street has angled kerbs with a significant incline (up to 18%), and the road surface to be crossed is coarsely paved. There is slanted access from the walkway onto the road just by the bridge approach. The narrow walkway in the passage under the Lesser Town Bridge Towers will rather cramp our passage. Having come off the walkway in Mostecká street, it is more advisable to proceed along the roadway, which smoothly turns into a pedestrian zone.

We will return to the Lesser Town Square by the same route and continue past the Kaiserstein Palace, the House of Flavín and Malostranská beseda on the eastern side of the square. We’ll turn along the right walkway to Letenská street. Looking at the curved facades of the Dientzenhofer rebuilt Church of St Thomas on the opposite side, we will be reminded just why the High Baroque is also called dynamic.

Letenská street takes us past the Czech Ministry of Finance building, after which we will cross the street over low kerbs. The road surface is again of rough paving, and we also have to traverse some tram tracks.

A wooden gate just past the crossing will take us to the Baroque Waldstein Garden, which is one of the most beautiful of Prague restful spaces. It is part of a large palace complex, which was built by Albrecht Waldstein, Duke of Frýdlant. The palace now houses the Senate of the Czech Republic, while the accessible garden with a large sala terrena, fountains and beautiful statues as well as sanitary facilities is open to the public during daylight hours from April to October.

Through the eastern gate near the pond with a square ground plan, we leave the garden and go to Klárov, the starting point of the route, where we can end the excursion with a visit to the Waldstein Riding School with short-term National Gallery exhibitions.