  
Building continued on the Castle during the reign
of Charles's son, Wenceslas IV. The Hussite wars
and the following decades, when the Castle was
not inhabited, caused the dilapidation of its
buildings and fortifications.
The next favourable time came after 1483, when a
king of the new dynasty of Jagellons again made
the Castle his seat. New fortifications were
built and, together with them, defence towers on
the northern side (the Powder Tower, the New
White Tower and Daliborka). The architect of the
fortifications, Benedikt Ried, also rebuilt and
enlarged the royal palace: the splendid Vladislav
Hall was the biggest secular vaulted hall in the
Europe of that day. Its big windows are
considered to be one of the first examples of the
renaissance style in Bohemia.
The kings of a further dynasty, the Habsburgs,
started rebuilding the Castle into a renaissance
seat. In accordance with the taste of the time
the Royal Garden was founded first, and in the
course of the 16th century buildings serving for
entertainment were put up in it: a summer palace,
a ball games hall, a shooting range and a lion's
court. Afterwards the cathedral and the royal
palace were adapted. New dwelling houses began to
be built to the west of the Old Royal Palace,
along the southern ramparts.
The adaptation of the Castle came to its
height in the second half of the 16th century,
during the rule of Rudolph II. The emperor
settled permanently in Prague Castle and began to
turn it into a grand and dignified centre of the
empire. And he founded the northern wing of the
palace, with today's Spanish Hall, to house his
precious artistic and scientific collections.
The Prague defenestration in 1618 started a long
period of wars, during which Prague Castle was
damaged and robbed. It was used by the country's
ruler only exceptionally and temporily.
In the second half of the 18th century the last
great rebuilding of the Castle was carried out,
making it a prestigious castle-type seat. But at
that time the capital or the empire was Vienna,
and Prague was just a provincial town. The Castle
gradually became dilapidated and its art
treasures were impoverished by the sale of the
remains of the Emperor Rudolph's collections.
Emperor Ferdinand V., after abdicating in 1848,
chose Prague Castle as his home. On this occasion
the chapel of the Holy Rood in the IInd courtyard
was rebuilt. The Spanish Hall and the Rudolph
Gallery were done up in preparation for the
coronation of Francis Joseph I. which, however,
did not take place..
There was a big movement to complete the building
of the cathedral, but this was not inspired by
the ruler but by the patriotic Union for
Completing the Cathedral of St. Vitus. It was in
fact completed in 1929.
After the foundation of the independent
Czechoslovak Republic in 1918 Prague Castle again
became the seat of the head of state. The Slovene
architect Josip Plecnik was entrusted with the
necessary alterations in 1920.
Today too reconstruction and alterations to the
grounds of Prague Castle are going on, and this
is not only a matter of essential building
maintenance. The basic aim is to open the grounds
of the Castle to all comers. Since 1989 many
previously closed areas have been thrown open to
the public, for instance the Royal Garden with
its Ball Game Hall, the southern gardens, the
Imperial Stable, the Theresian Wing of the Old
Royal Palace.
Today Prague Castle, besides the seat of the head
of state, is also an important cultural and
historical monument. The crown jewels are kept in
Prague Castle, as are the relics of Bohemian
kings, precious Christian reliquiae, art
treasures and historical documents. Events
important for the whole country have taken place
within its walls. So Prague Castle the embodiment
of the historical tradition of the Czech state,
linking the present with the past.
PENSION
VYSOHLID
ADRESA: Na Dolnici
954/37, 155 00 PRAHA 5 - Stodùlky
tel.: +420-2-6512967, fax: +420-2-6512963
E-mail: vysohlid@vol.cz
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