Founding
quarter in the city of Prague in the Czech Republic
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New Town (Czech: Nové Město) is a quarter in the city of Prague in the Czech Republic. New Town is the youngest and largest of the five independent (from the Middle Ages until 1784) towns that today comprise the historic center of modern Prague. New Town was founded in 1348 by Charles IV just outside the city walls to the east and south of the Old Town and encompassed an area of 7.5 km2; about three times the size of the Old Town. The population of Prague in 1378 was well over 40,000, perhaps as much as twice that, making it the 4th most populated city north of the Alps and, by area, the 3rd largest city in Europe. Although New Town can trace its current layout to its construction in the 14th century, only few churches and administrative buildings from this time survive. There are many secular and educational buildings in New Town, but also especially magnificent gothic and baroque churches. These nevertheless are not the main drawing points for tourists. New Town's most famous landmark is Wenceslas Square, which was originally built as a horsemarket and now functions as a center of commerce and tourism. In the 15th century, the Novoměstská radnice, or New Town Hall, was the site of the first of the three defenestrations of Prague.
No doubt in connection with his coronation as king under the Holy Roman Empire in 1346, Charles IV decided to found a new city in Prague. After he had achieved the city's independence within the church with the creation of the Archbishopric of Prague in 1344, the foundation of the New Town was intended further to enhance the status of the city which was the new residence of the king. In addition, the housing problem within the city walls of Prague that had already been apparent under Charles IV's father John of Luxembourg was crying out for a solution. Many people, mostly poorer Czechs, had settled in suburbs situated at the base of the city walls, and the banks of the Vltava were almost continuously built over.
What was original about Charles IV's action was that he chose, instead of creating an administratively dependent suburb, or an extension of the old town, as was the usual practice, to create in the New Town an independent royal city with its own legal framework. Nevertheless, Charles planned a physical and legal union with the old part of town and decreed a common administration in 1367; however, primarily due to the opposition of the two town councils, this failed and had to be abandoned as little as ten years later. After many rights and liberties had been granted to the inhabitants of the new city, the inhabitants of the old part of town, which was now enclosed by the New Town on all sides, likewise had their existing rights and liberties confirmed in writing, and they were given the assurance of free access through both the northern gates of the New Town.
Together with the establishment of the New Town, the king made further efforts to increase the significance of the town. It was not only to be the new residence of the king and a centre for scholarship - on 7 April 1348, Charles University was founded as the first university in central Europe - and for the arts, but it was intended to become an important economic centre in Central Europe. To that end a shift of Central European traffic routes and the creation of new routes was planned, as well as making the Vltava navigable; and the plans had been carried out to some extent. The construction of the New Town was probably essentially complete as early as 1367, at the time of the short-lived union with the Old Town.
The new city covered an area of about 250 hectares (620 acres) and was thus more than double the size of the Old Town (106 hectares or 260 acres). It was about 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) long from North to South, and 0.8 to 1.2 km (½ to ¾ mile) wide from east to west. The planned area was subdivided into several plots, according to the suitability of the land for the arrangement of the new town. Along the Vltava, from Vyšehrad towards the Old Town, several settlements of tanners and fishermen, with their own churches as well as a Jewish cemetery, already existed. To the West of the Old Town, on the Vltava, the settlement of Poříčí ("Riverside") was already densely built, containing two churches, St. Clement's and St. Peter's, as well as the bishop's court.
An east-facing terrace of land was clearly separated by a pronounced gully, 6 to 8 meters deep, from the plain on the bank of the river. The upper plateau was dominated by two ridges projecting far to the west, which were intended later to be occupied by planned constructions. Here likewise already existed some smaller settlements such as Na Rybníčku or Rybníček ("By the Pond") with a Romanesque rotunda, which was probably originally dedicated to St Stephen.
The building of the New Town commenced on 26 March 1348 with the ceremonial laying of the first stone of the New Town wall by Charles IV. The wall not only provided security for the planned new town, but also legally separated it from the surrounding land. The importance which was attached to the fortification is, inter alia, evident in the fact that it took only two years to complete, although it was relatively low in comparison with the walls of older Bohemian cities.
The wall of the New Town began in Vyšehrad (whose fortification was renewed at the same time) and ran from there along the escarpment of the upper Vltava terrace by the Botič Brook to the highest point of the area, on which Charles' Court (with the Church of the Ascension of the BVM and Emperor Charles the Great) was later erected. The wall turned at this point and continued almost precisely north. After a slight turn to the east between the city gate at Ječná (Barley) Lane and the horse market (now Wenceslas Square), the wall then ran along the St Vitus' Hill brook, whose deeply cut valley maintained a constant distance from the Old Town until it reached the Vltava where the wall turned again, this time to the west.
Unlike the Old Town, no wall was erected along the Vltava, since free access to the river had to be ensured. In total, the wall was about 3.5 kilometres (2.2 mi) long, 6–10 meters tall, 3–5 meters wide and topped with battlements. While towers were placed along the eastern side every 100 meters, just one (in the valley) sufficed in the south, due to the steepness of the adjacent ground. Stronger towers were situated at the corners of the wall in the south-east and in the north-east at the St Vitus' Hill brook, as well as at the north end by the Vltava. The wall was breached only by four gates and a few small posterns. The wall was further protected by a ditch, where water mostly flowed in former stream beds, but it was dry in some places because of the differences in height. Evidently there was no outer wall (outside the ditch).
At the foundation of the New Town in 1348, the enclosed area was already mostly surveyed, divided into parcels. The plan for the roads as well as the positions of the various markets and the goods to be sold in each of them were all already determined. The structure of the older settlements on the Vltava was broadly maintained; but on the remaining, so far undeveloped terrain, unusually broad streets and squares were created; however the routes of already existing roadways were respected. The area of the New Town was however so large that it could not immediately be settled completely, and large sections in the north around the settlement of Poříčí and in the southeast remained undeveloped into the 19th century. The planning of the New Town was probably the responsibility of the French master cathedral builder Matthias of Arras, who had been brought to Prague from Avignon by Charles IV in 1342/44.
Charles IV expressly forbid property speculation and granted to all, who wanted to settle, twelve years exemption from taxes. However, for the tax exemption to be earned, construction of a stone building had to be begun on the specified plot within a month and completed within one and a half years. This privilege was made available not only to Christians, but also to Jews; however few of the latter made use of it.
City accounting records show that by 1372 the streets of the New Town were already built up with houses for the most part. An important reason for the rapid settlement of the New Town was the decree of Charles IV that noisy and dirty trades were to be shifted from the Old Town to the New Town. Within the New Town concentrations of specific craftsmen developed around the appropriate markets. For example, fishermen, carpenters, raftsmen, tanners, dyers, brickmakers and limeburners were to be found along the Vltava, and around the horse market were located farriers, wagonmakers, coppersmiths and cabinetmakers. Thus the New Town was particularly inhabited by poorer craftsmen of Czech nationality, who had always dominated in the older riverside villages, while in the Old Town mostly German and Jewish craftsmen were found. These large economic and national differences resulted in a clear separation of the two cities and were finally also decisive for the disturbances during the Hussite Revolution at the end of the reign of Wenceslas IV.
The Church of St Henry and Cunigunde, with four trusses and three steeples of equal height, which was near an existing settlement, was established as the main parish church of the New Town (Latin: ecclesia parochialis primaria) starting from 1350, immediately after the completion of the wall. Before the free-standing bell tower was built, the tower at the southwest corner of the church probably fulfilled this function. Likewise, the parish school at the church was established by Charles IV and even in the 16th and 17th centuries it was still counted among the best schools in Bohemia and along with the university was one of the most outstanding educational institutes in Prague. Not far from the church, on the site of the main post office (Hlavní pošta) built between 1871 and 1874, were the botanical gardens of Charles University, laid out by the apothecary and personal physician of Charles IV, Angelus de Florentia, which was called the Andělská zahrada ("Angel's Garden"), the first botanical garden of Europe.
The economic center of the northern quarter was the Hay and Straw Market, which aligns roughly with the modern Senovážné náměstí. Wilfried Brosche was most likely responsible for planning the hay market in similar vein to the horse market. Present day Hibernia Street (Hybernská ulice) forms the southern boundary of the former market. As early as 1379, it was paved ("strata lapidae") as the first road of the New Town, and thus received its older name Pavement Lane (Czech: Dlážděná ulice). The market ran along the old road to Kutná Hora which was the main route toward the east. At the entrance to the Old Town stood the "Tattered or Ragged gate" (Czech: Odraná brána) or as it was later called St. Ambrosius Gate at the end of Celetná (Tentmaker Street). A renewal of the gate was apparently already intended under Charles IV. The existing Powder Gate (Czech: Prašná brána) was first built in 1475. The Mountain Gate or St Vitus' Gate (Czech: Horská brána) formed the upper end of the New Town wall. Also at the lower end of the Haymarket, Charles IV let a Benedictine monastery (Milanese rite) be established in 1355. The monastery and church were dedicated to St Ambrosius, in commemoration of the coronation of Charles as the king of Lombardy on 5 January of the same year in Milan Cathedral, where St Ambrosius was bishop in the 4th century. In addition, near the monastery, probably opposite the St. Benedict Gate of the Old Town, was the John and Jacob almshouse.
The second important market street in the lower New Town was River Street (Na Poříčí). It can be traced back to an old route, which began at the St. Benedict Gate of the Old Town and led through the pre-existing settlement to the Vltava. In the east the St Peter Gate or River Gate (Czech: Poříčská brána) was established as part of the city defenses of the New Town (it was removed in 1873). The two original Roman Catholic churches, the Church of St. Peter at Poříčí (Kostel sv. Petra na Poříčí) and the Church of St. Clement at Poříčí (Kostel sv. Klimenta na Poříčí), both underwent extensive extensions and changes in the second half of the 14th century.
Between the old settlement and the new construction north of the horse market, there remained much undeveloped open space, starting approximately from the height of the St. Henry's Church, which was only sparsely built and was mainly filled with gardens and green spaces.
Text from the Wikipedia article “New Town, Prague”, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.