20 stories hiding in the towers, the churches, and the streets
Every year, millions of people visit Prague. They cross Charles Bridge, photograph the castle, and leave thinking they saw the real city.
They haven't.
Behind every postcard view is a story most visitors never hear. A tower carved with hidden astrological codes. A statue of a warrior so large it took 16 years to cast. A clock that runs on medieval time.
These are the stories right beneath the surface. Once you know them, you'll never see Prague the same way.
On the surface
The Basilica of St. James. A church on a narrow street just off Old Town Square.
Right beneath
Just inside the door, a blackened mummified human arm has hung from a chain for centuries. It's the alleged remains of a thief whose wrist was seized by a statue of Mary.
On the surface
The Gothic tower at the entrance to Charles Bridge. Covered in carved figures and coats of arms.
Right beneath
Charles IV chose the exact minute to found this bridge: July 9, 1357 at 5:31 AM. The numbers form a palindrome he believed would grant magical protection. Kingfishers and veiled women hidden in the masonry are part of this secret astrological code.
On the surface
A golden mosaic above the south entrance to St. Vitus Cathedral. Shimmering figures against a deep blue background.
Right beneath
This was the only entrance used by Bohemian kings on their coronation day. They had to walk beneath a shimmering Last Judgment mosaic made of over one million pieces of glass as a reminder of their divine responsibility. The cathedral took 585 years to finish, and the gargoyles aren't decorative. They're stone pipes that shoot rainwater away from the foundations.
On the surface
A massive bronze statue of a man on a horse on Vítkov Hill. You can see it from across the city.
Right beneath
This man commanded his army while completely blind, used chained farm wagons as mobile fortresses, and never lost a single battle, defeating professional crusader armies with farmers and commoners.
And that's just the beginning
He spent seven years in Istanbul studying the Quran. Seven years after publishing his attack on it, he was beheaded.
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The silver predator's head detaches. The fierce mythical beast is actually a vessel for sacred wine.
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Prague's tallest vault belongs to a church that's only a fragment. The rest was never built.
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Twelve severed heads hung in iron baskets from this tower for ten years. The wind whistled through the skulls.
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Citizens paid for it with personal coins and jewels. It burned before opening night. They rebuilt it in six weeks.
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He never lost a single battle. He was completely blind. His sculptor died before the statue was finished.
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Soviet tanks fired on this building by mistake. They thought it was Parliament. Czechs left the bullet holes for years.
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Everything that looks medieval is a 19th-century fantasy. The man who designed it was a schoolmaster who carved his own face into the stone.
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A nation declared independence inside this building. Every door handle was designed as rebellion against the empire that still ruled them.
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This was a royal horse stable. Then it became one of Europe's first concrete buildings, complete with a swimming pool, cinema, and automated buffet inside.
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The city, not the church, owns the bell tower. During the Cold War, secret police used it to spy on Western embassies.
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Stone giants groan under a palace balcony, carved from sandstone that was soft when cut but hardened over centuries.
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Burned alive for saying truth belongs to everyone. 500 years later, people covered his monument in flowers as silent defiance.
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The Jesuits built it as a theater for heaven, with beauty doing the preaching. Mozart loved the acoustics; thousands came for his memorial mass.
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The clock shows four types of time at once. Legend says they blinded the man who built it so he could never make a better one.
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He invented an alphabet from scratch. Was jailed for praying in a language people understood. Needed a papal order to be freed.
Read the story →Every one of these was right there, beneath the surface.
The paintings, the churches, the architecture. They were all telling a story. You just had to know how to hear it.
And Prague is just one city.
What's That? turns what you're looking at into the story behind it.
You photograph a building, a painting, a detail that catches your eye. Seconds later, you hear the story. Spoken aloud, so you can keep walking while you listen.
Next time you're in Prague, you'll hear every story.
Free on the App Store. Works in any city.
