New Town Hall

Posted by Scott (Prague, Czech Republic) on 16 May 2007 in Cityscape & Urban.

Bordering the north side of Karlovo Namesti is New Town Hall. She may be a pretty building but she's got a bloody history.

Ever heard the word "defenestration?" No? Well it means to throw someone out a window. And usually with the purpose to kill them. The Czechs pretty much invented this tactic for offing the unwanted, or if not they sure were mad about it. Pretty much anyone that pissed someone off back in the day would just be thrown out the window. It's like "Hmmm...I don't like what you said/did, so yeah you're going out the window...SEE YA!" And that'd be it. New Town Hall is where a whole group of people were defenestrated. Not sure exactly who or why they were.

What's also funny is that people didn't always die after being defenestrated. Some people have even been thrown out of the towers of St. Vitus Cathedral and survived the fall (and believe me, that's a damn high tower!) I guess when one's in that sort of situation you can always hope for a well-placed manure cart to break your fall...