The Terrifying Little Quirks of Prague Castle

The whole city of Prague are filled with local legends that ranges from amusing to horrifying. I had learned about some of them during my Ghosts & Legends Tour of Old Town Prague, but there are more legends to discover all around the city as well.

In this post, however, I would like to point out some quirks of the Prague Castle complex that may just scare off the little kids, and maybe you as well *please insert an evil laugh here*.

As you make your way through the Prague Castle complex, one of the first and most famous building you will see is the St. Vitus Cathedral. The magnificent cathedral is adorned with splendour and plenty of gold on the inside, but if you pay close attention to what decorate the outside, you might find something less pretty.

If you were like me and had to wait in line for 20 minutes to get into the St. Vitus Cathedral, there is little to do but to chat with your travel companion (if you have one) or to look around you. It is during this wait that I noticed the cathedral's gargoyles, which take a shape even more grotesque than the famous Paris Notre Dame.

The gargoyles of St. Vitus Cathedral

The gargoyles looked like screaming humans from the Middle Ages. Their tongues stick out permanently with their throat functioning as the rain water's way out of the church's gutter. I personally think that this is the most gruesome gargoyle I've ever seen.

This metallic side door looks like it belongs more to a prison or dungeon than a church, but what caught my eye was its knocker, which is shaped like a curling snake with menacing eyes to match. Somehow, this door also reminds me of the Gaunt's cottage from the Harry Potter series.

St. Vitus Cathedral's Side Door

Not far from the St. Vitus Cathedral, you will found your way into Golden Lane; a quaint little street with a row of tiny houses each dedicated to a specific profession or person that used to live there. Most of the houses on Golden Lane are dainty, but there is one that is a world apart from the rest. One of the building on Golden Lane is called the Torture Chamber. It is named so because it houses the many varied paraphernalia of medieval torture. If my memory serves me correctly, it adjoins the medieval weapons museum, which houses armour as well as weapons.
PS : I'm sorry that the pictures of this room are of low quality; they're not proper pictures, but rather screenshots from my Prague Castle vlog.

Prague's Torture Chamber

The many torture devices in the Torture Chamber

One of the last building you will see at the end of the complex is the Daliborka Tower. This skeleton hangs by its entrance. I believe that the skeleton wasn't always there, as I have seen many past pictures of the Daliborka Tower with no skeletons present. The Daliborka Tower was named after the knight Dalibor, who was imprisoned and tortured in the tower for years for inciting an uprising against another knight. It was said that Dalibor filled his time playing violins, which made many Praguers to come to listen to him play. The skeleton may be a representation of Dalibor, who was hanged in front of his prison.

The skeleton in front of Daliborka Tower.

After exploring the Prague Castle, I have come to appreciate the many layers of its beauty and history. History is not always pretty, and Prague definitely has its own dark side. That said, little quirks makes up the experience, and it is also what makes the experience memorable.


xo,
Maria


Read more about my trip to Prague.