Municipal House (Obecní dům)

Prague's greatest Art Nouveau building, with concert hall and decorated café

Address náměstí Republiky 5, Prague 1 (Nové Město)
Website obecni-dum.cz

Prague's most complete Art Nouveau building, completed in 1912, stands at the end of the Royal Route where a royal court once stood. Every interior surface is decorated — mosaics, stained glass, gilded plasterwork, and murals by Alphonse Mucha and other leading Czech artists of the period. The mosaic on the facade, "Homage to Prague," is Mucha's work.

Inside: the Smetana Concert Hall, two café spaces (the French and the American), restaurants, and several decorated salons available for hire. The guided tour is worthwhile for the rooms that are otherwise off-limits. The street-level Kavárna (café) is a fine place for coffee; it is less tourist-blasted than nearby cafes and the interior is genuinely spectacular.

things to do sight architecture stare mesto
A story
Czechoslovakia was declared independent from the Austro-Hungarian Empire on 28 October 1918 in the Smetana Hall of this building — the new state was literally born here. The founders had no more appropriate venue in mind; the Municipal House had been built as the cultural centerpiece of Czech national revival.

Other places in Staré Město