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Hradcany 's raison d'etre is its Castle , or Hrad , built on the site of one of the original hill settlements of the Slav tribes who migrated here in the seventh or eighth century. Viewed from the Charles Bridge (Karluv most), Prague Castle stands aloof from the rest of the city, protected by a sheer wall that's breached only by the great mass of St Vitus Cathedral (daily 9am-4/5pm). Building started under Charles IV, who summoned the precocious 23-year-old German mason Peter Parler to work on the church. But only the choir and the south transept were finished when Charles died in 1399, and the whole structure wasn't completed until 1929. The eastern section recalls the building's authentic Gothic roots and the south door, or Golden Gate (Zlata brana), is also pure Parler in style. The Cathedral is the country's largest church, and, once inside, it's difficult not to be impressed by its sheer height. The grand chapel of sv Vaclav , by the south door, is easily the main attraction. Built by Parler, its rich decoration resembles the inside of a jewel casket: the gilded walls are inlaid with over 1300 semiprecious stones, set around ethereal fourteenth-century Biblical frescoes, while above, the tragedy of Wenceslas unfolds in later paintings. A door in the south wall leads to the coronation chamber which houses the Bohemian crown jewels, including the gold crown of St Wenceslas. At the centre of the choir, within a fine Renaissance grill, cherubs lark about on the sixteenth-century marble Imperial Mausoleum , commissioned by Rudolf II for his grandfather, Ferdinand I, and father, Maximilian II. If you want to see the choir or the ambulatory, you'll need to buy a ticket (250kc), valid for three days, which also gives you entry into a handful of other sights in the castle, including the Old Royal Palace (Stary kralovsky palac), just across the courtyard from the south door of the cathedral, and home to the princes and kings of Bohemia from the eleventh to the seventeenth centuries. It's a sandwich of royal apartments built by successive generations - these days you enter at the third and top floor, built at the end of the fifteenth century. The massive Vladislav Hall (Vladislavsky sal) is where the early Bohemian kings were elected, and where every president since Masaryk has been sworn into office - including Havel on December 29, 1989. Don't be fooled by the uninspiring red facade of the Basilica of sv Jiri (Basilica of St George) - this is Prague's most beautiful Romanesque monument (and a popular venue for events), its inside meticulously restored to re-create the crumble-coloured basilica which replaced the original tenth-century church in 1173. Next door, the Convent of sv Jiri (Jirske Klaster), founded in 973, now houses the National Gallery's Old Bohemian art collection (Tues-Sun 10am-6pm), incorporating a remarkable collection of Gothic art - including the original of the bronze equestrian figure of St George that stands in the central courtyard. Round the corner from the convent is the Golden Lane (Zlata ulicka), a blind and crowded alley of miniature sixteenth-century cottages in dolly-mixture colours. A plaque at no. 22 commemorates Franz Kafka's brief sojourn here during World War I. North of the castle walls, across the Powder Bridge (Prasn2 most), is the entrance to the Kralovska zahrada (May-Oct Tues-Sun 10am-5.45pm), founded by Ferdinand I and still the best-kept gardens in the country, with functioning fountains and immaculately cropped lawns. At the end of the gardens is Prague's most celebrated Renaissance legacy, the Belveder (Tues-Sun 10am-6pm), a delicately arcaded summer house, now an art gallery.
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