Matthias Braun's sculpture
Gods and mythological figures in high Baroque carving by one of central Europe's greatest sculptors — the pieces alone justify the ticket.
VitVit — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Ludvig14 — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Helena Melezínková — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Juan de Vojníkov — CC BY-SA 3.0
At Karmelitská 25, between the Church of Our Lady Victorious and the Hellichova tram stop. It is a small wooden gate leading to a passage — no obvious frontage, and plenty of people walk past it repeatedly.
Half an hour covers the climb, the view and a short sit. The garden is deliberately small; its value is in concentration, not size.
The Wallenstein gardens are larger, free, and have peacocks and a pond, but they are flat. Vrtba is smaller and ticketed but terraced, with a view. With time for both, take Vrtba in the morning and Wallenstein later.
Among the best spots in Prague: stepped terraces, sculpture and a backdrop of red roofs and a green dome. Best light is early morning or the hour before sunset.
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The Vrtba Garden is one of Prague's best-kept secrets: you go in through a small gate on busy Karmelitská street, pass down a narrow corridor, and a terraced Baroque garden opens in front of you on the Petřín slope, unknown to anyone walking the street above it. It was laid out between 1715 and 1720 by the architect František Maxmilián Kaňka, and counts among the purest examples of the Italian Baroque garden north of the Alps. Three terraces climb by stairways, decorated with sculpture by Matthias Braun — one of the greatest Baroque sculptors in central Europe — with wall paintings, precisely clipped beds and a small fountain. From the upper terrace you get one of Prague's loveliest and least known views: the Lesser Town roofs directly in front, the dome of St Nicholas, and Prague Castle to the left. The garden is small and quiet and cannot hold many people, so it feels like your own discovery. The ticket is cheap and the visit takes half an hour — among the best half-hours in the Lesser Town.
Gods and mythological figures in high Baroque carving by one of central Europe's greatest sculptors — the pieces alone justify the ticket.
Lesser Town roofs, the dome of St Nicholas and the castle — an intimate close view no tower gives you.
Clipped beds, symmetrical axes and stairs stepping up the slope — a complete lesson in the Italian Baroque garden.
Metres from a busy street and yet you hear nothing — without rival the quietest place in the Lesser Town.
Karmelitská 25, Malá Strana, Prague 1