The Story of Prague
distinguished themselves in the defence of the bridge against the Swedes.
Continuing to follow the Vitava, we soon reach the equestrian statue of the Emperor Francis I., which stands in the middle of a small garden. Near here, in the Karolina Svetla Street, is the interesting Romanesque Chapel of the Holy Cross, one of the three earliest ecclesiastical edifices of Prague. It is—one of the three Romanesque chapels which still exist at Prague. Its date can only be conjectured, as though it is first mentioned in the fourteenth century as a parish church, it is undoubtedly of much greater antiquity. In the seventeenth century it ceased to be an ecclesiastical building, and might have continued unknown if the ‘Umelecka Beseda’ (artistic society) had not acquired the building and (1863–1865) caused it to be very skilfully restored. It was re-consecrated by Archbishop Prince Schwarzenberg in 1879.
Continuing from the Karolina Svetla Street to the Bethlehem Street we soon reach the square of the same name. It is on this spot, for ever connected with the memory of Hus, that it is proposed to erect a monument to the great Church-reformer. Here once stood the Bethlehem Chapel, the cradle of Church reform, and the modest dwelling of Hus. A tablet on the door still reminds the traveller of the spot. On the Bethlehem Square also is the very ancient house known as ‘U Halanku,’ a fine specimen of the ancient civic architecture of Prague. It belonged for a considerable time to the family of Krocin Z Drahobejlu, whose arms can still be seen in the courtyard. Wenceslas Krocin was for some time ‘primator’ (i.e., burgomaster) of the old town of Prague. This house now contains an Industrial Museum, with reading-rooms erected by the late Mr. Naprstek. Mr. Naprstek resided for a considerable time in America,
