History of the Hotel buildings.

The hotel is situated in two adjacent buildings, which are registered on the UNESCO list of monuments. Both of the buildings are considered to be of historical importance, and are known as the house “ U lazara” (from the outside, this house is painted green in colour) and the house “U zlatého jednorožce” (house of the golden unicorn, this house is painted grey in colour).

The house u Lazara. Staromestske namesti no. 19/549

The house, whose first records date back to the year 1359 and to its owner Mikolas Planer, was built at the end of the 12th Century in the Romanesque period. In the 14th century the building went through a full Gothic reconstruction. Then approximately in the first half of the 16th century it had a further late-gothic reconstruction and changed owners on a frequent basis until 1590s, when the house was acquired by Lazar, the son in law of doctor Vit, by whose name the house has been known ever since. In 1629 the building was entrusted to the cardinal Harrach, who headed a puerile seminar here and continued to do so until the second half of the 17th century, when the house became the ownership of the Cartesian monastery in Valdice, who owned the building until the year 1782 when they were dissolved. In this time, the building acquired its current look. The balcony that decorates the building was added in the 19th century.

The best feature of the building is its private chapel, situated on the 3rd floor, which dates back to the 15th – 16th century. The chapel it self was abolished in the year 1782 and all that remains is the half round windows and the painted wooden ceiling, which was hidden until the year 2001 when it was uncovered during minor reconstructions. This is why the paintings on the ceiling remained well preserved, and thus one has the possibility to see the original paintings of saints such as St. Gertrud, St. Clara, St. Ivana, and St. Sigmund. The ceiling also still contains the remaining shrapnel holes from the end of WWII.

The cellars of this building are well preserved with Romanesque and gothic features such as vaults and Romanesque entry portals. Similar features can also be found in the cellars of the house of the golden unicorn.

The house U Lazara also still has one of the few roofs on the southern side of the square, which did not get destroyed during the large fire during the revolts in Prague during May of 1945.


The house u Zlateho jednorožce (the house of the golden unicorn), Staromestske namesti no. 20/548, Zelezna ulice 1

This house has also been known since the 18th century as the house of the White horse (Bily Konicek). The house is considered to be one of the oldest, with its 12th century Romanesque cellars. It is important to note, that these premises were in fact prior to the floods in the 13th century a part of the ground floor. Nevertheless, due to the floods, after which it became necessary to increase the ground level of the city by 4 meters of soil, this part of the building then became the cellar. It is probably this act that enabled the preservation of these premises to this date. The different depth of the building as well as the different height points to the fact, that originally, this house was made up of two independent buildings, that is the house u zlateho jednorozce (house of the Golden Unicorn) and the house U cervenych dveri (house of the Red Doors). From the historical reports we can say, that the buildings were joined between the years 1357-1359 by its owner Vaclav Geunher, a rich banker. The price of the house after its reconstruction was set very high for that period at 600 moulds of Goshen.

The house changed its owners quite frequently up until the year 1493, after the death of bishop Augustine Lucian Sanktuarien, when it was inherited by a shopkeeper Jiri od Jednorožce (Jiri of Unicorn). He placed the picture of his symbol, the unicorn, on the front of the house it has been known as the house of the golden unicorn ever since.

In the year 1496, the house underwent an extensive and expensive reconstruction, during which the portal with lilies and the passage with the beautiful ribbed vault was built by the renowned architect of that time – Matyas Rejsek. This influential architect from the gothic period enclosed the ribbing into the apex stone with decorative foliage, one of which carried the symbol of unicorn and the other includes the self-portrait of the architect himself (which can still be seen today), and also the inscription of the year 1496. Unfortunately, the original portal of the passage was not preserved, but it is presumed that there was another passage next to this one for people on foot.

Amongst other important owners of this house were for example master of the castle Kosti (Bone castle) Herman Cerni from Chudenice. He was the chief judge and the ambassador to the Turkish court.

Today’s facade and the current look of the house were acquired during late baroque reconstruction, which took place in 1712 – 1717 and then also later in 1731 according to a project of F.M. Kanka. From this date the house also carries its second name Bily Konicek (White Horse). The stairways in the house, which are still used today, are thought to have been built during these reconstructions.

In the process of recollecting of the history of the house, one must not forget to mention some of its other famous occupants, such as Karel Havlicek Brodský who lived in this house in 1838 and Bedrich Smetana, who in 1848 established a music school within these premises.

The cellars beneath the building have a similar history to that mentioned in the description of the adjacent house U lazara. It is within these premises, where the hotel plans to open up a restaurant. During the reconstruction of these premises, which previously were used as a music club, numerous archaeological and architectural surveys were undertaken, during which the history of the house have been found. To this date one can see the cobble paving, typical for buildings from the middle ages, as well as various boxes in the wall, whose function has not been revealed to this date. In one of the rooms the archaeological survey revealed the torso of a secret room, but what it hides has, much like the rest of the two adjacent buildings, remained a secret.


History of Old Town Square, on which both of the buildings are situated.

The Old Town Square (Staromestske namesti) is the oldest square in Prague and is over 15 186 metres squared. From the 11th century the square was used as a market place with its periodical and annual fairs. Gradually it became for Prague and also briefly for the Czech land a place of utmost significance for traders as well as for the wider public. Ungelt, (a principality court yard), which was (and still is) in its vicinity, was the place where traders could rest, as it had its own church and hospital. Baroque and early gothic buildings with their own court yards were gradually erected on the parameters of the market place, which became a square as such only after the erection of stone wall in the years 1232-1234, which enclosed the entire Old Town (Stare mesto). In 1338, following the decision (influenced by a large bribe) of the king, John of Luxemburg, permitting the erection of a town hall, the square also became a place of political importance.

From this date, most of the important events and festivals took place on this square. One of the most memorable was the public revolts after the execution of Jan Zelivsky in 1422, the crowning of Jiri of Podebrady as the king in 1458 and on Monday the 21st of Jun 1621, this square was used as the place to execute 21 lords, the leaders and main actors in the Czech uprising against the Hapsburgs. In the 17th and 18th century, as the importance of Prague was weakened, so was the importance of the square itself. The square gained its importance back in the 20th century following events such as the manifests for the voting rights in 1905, demonstrations of 14.10.1918 requesting the independence of the Czechoslovak republic and in the Prague revolts of may 1945, when the eastern side of the town hall was burned down.

The square maintained its look up until the 1st half of the 19th century, when the Town hall was completed. At the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century, the road Parizska was built, which enabled the full view of the St. Nicholas church and opened the square up. In 1915, the statute of Jan Hus was erected on the square, which, after the tearing down of catholic symbol, the Mariansky sloup, in 1918 became its only dominant statute.