Prague Highlights Tour

This is a whole day tour ( about 5-8 hours ) that can be a walking or a combination of walking and driving.
The guide will show you the interiors of the baroque libraries, the collection of the unique Loreto treasury , the Old Royal Palace and the Cathedral in the Prague Castle area , the old Jewish Quarter area with its famous Old New Synagogue and the Old Jewish Cemetery and the baroque churches.
You can start any time you like.
It is possible to split this tour into two half day 4 hour tours.
Tickets are not included.

5-8 HOUR TOUR
(it is possible to split this tour into two days as two half-day (4hour tours)
GUIDE and VEHICLE
or GUIDE ONLY

"The Old Town Bridge Tower on one side of the Charles Bridge, was built to be "one of the most beautiful in Europe". In a city with over a "hundred towers" this was no simple task. At the same time the bridge tower was meant to serve a deeper purpose than simply being part of the Gothic mosaic: Charles IV and architect Peter Parler designed the tower to be a mystical edifice, a "speaking stone" full of hidden meaning and symbols which would communicate to those who could understand, those who bore the secret "keyes". The code was provided by the mystical builders of the cathedrals..."

"Once a year only, on the day of the Summer Solstice June 21st, Prague´s St. Vitus Cathedral is the site of a most mysterious happening which is visible from the Old Town Bridge Tower. As it sets, the sun´s rays fall upon the cathedral´s presbyterium, shining precisely on the area where Czech kings and saints lie buried. This effect, which has no equal in Gothic Europe, reflects Charles IV´s deep understanding of the city´s urban lay-out, accomplished by his architects..."

"One of the most delightful elements of Old Prague are house emblems or signs, which prove just how naturally elements of the Cabala, Christian mysticism, Astrology and Magic, formed a part of citizens´lives in days now long forgotten. In terms of house signs Prague has no rival, in neither London, Munich, Amsterdam or Paris. Numbers, letters, crosses, angels, alchemistic elements and objects, symbolic animals and tools of healing, all existed in the heart of Prague for centuries."

Johannes Kepler´s Prague stay was instrumental for modern astronomy, comparing Tycho Brahe´s observations with his own, Kepler was able to write thirty papers in the court of Rudolph II, including the classic Astronomia Nova in 1609 and Dioptrica, two years later. He was one of the first to observe solar discrepancies on the sun, and in the words of Carl Sagan "tore the very laws from Nature" , concerning the movement of planets, an understanding which remains the foundation for modern astronomy and space travel. Kepler´s third law, which deals with size of planetary orbits and length of time it takes a planet to orbit around the sun, applies equally to Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto, celestial bodies which were not known in his day. Kepler resided in several places in Prague, but spent most of his time at the house At the French Crown, where he lived for five years, until the death of emperor Rudolph II in 1612. Kepler´s observatory was found in the Clementinum, which was across the street.
It is said that Johannes Kepler didn´t like astrology but the opposite is true. Kepler took astrology very seriously, creating horoscopes for himslef, Emepror Rudolph II, and the emperor´s brother Matthias. Kepler gained further renown by working out General Wallenstein´s horoscope, which shockingly predicted the nobleman´s encrouching death.
During his almost 12 year residency in Prague Kepler kept ties with many Czech noblemen who were members of the Brotherhood of the Rose and the Cross. While he met Tadeas Hajek a few times, Kepler had longer standing connections with Vaclav Budovec (executed in 1621 on the Old Town Square), Krystof Harant (the nobleman, composer, writer , executed in 1621) and Jan Jessenius (anatomist, professor at Prague University, executed in 1621), who shared Kepler´s magical view of the world, a view based on Pythagorean ideas on the harmony of the universe and God as the grand mover of events.
Kepler worked without the aid of a telescope, though Galieleo lent him one for a month in 1610, professional envy and competitiveness prevented Galileo from lending any of his rare prototypes for a longer period . In spite of this disadvantage, Kepler´s discoveries in physical astronomy, especially the movements of the planets, carry the mark of genius.

text - Jiri Kuchar - "Praha esotericka"



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