The Story of Prague
passing the German Theatre, we arrive in a few minutes at the Carolinum, which bears the name of Charles IV., the founder of the University of Prague. Though the building has been modernised, and only the Chapel of SS. Cosmas and Damianus and the Gothic projection retain the ancient character, it is one of the most historically interesting buildings at Prague, as—next to Bethlehem Chapel—it is the one most intimately connected with the career of Hus. It was here that he and his friends defended the teaching of Wycliffe (July 1410), and here, too, that the great disputatio took place (June 1412), in which he eloquently denounced the abuse of indulgences. In later days, too, the Carolinum was a stronghold of Utraquism. Many of the stormy meetings of the Bohemian nobles that preceded the defenestration of 1618 were held here. The place, indeed, became so noted as a meeting-place of heretics, that after the Battle of the White Mountain some Catholic generals suggested that it should be destroyed. The Carolinum now contains the lecture rooms of the juridical and medical faculties of both the Bohemian and the German Universities of Prague. From the Carolinum we can either take the Zelezna Ulice (Iron Street), which leads us back to the town hall, or through the Ovocni Trh (fruit market), reach the Celetná Ulice, or return to the Graben, at the end of which we reach the powder tower.
The new town and the Vysehrad are not equal in interest to the old town and its sub-division, the Jewish quarter, yet here, too, there are more objects of interest than limited space will allow me to mention. Starting again from the powder tower, we arrive, through the Josefské Námesti, at the angle of the Poric Street, the site of one of the oldest settlements of Prague. Walking through this street to its
