Prague 1 – Lesser Town, 35/21 Malostranské Square
WHERE LUNCH WILL BE SERVED – 17. 5. 2019 / 12:00
More about Malostranská beseda past
More about Music and Theatre Club
The former Lesser Town City Hall is a renaissance building with a spacious late-gothic hall. Lesser Town citizens had it built in 1478. Eleven councilors with a burgomaster, chief magistrate and scribes met here to decide about administrative affairs, criminal and civil suits, orphanages and related matters. The document called Czech Confession was written here in 1575 – articles compiled by the Czech non-Catholic opposition as the blueprints of negotiations on legalizing religious freedoms. Builder and stonemason Giovanni Battista Bussi adorned it with today’s late-renaissance features in 1617 according to a design by Giovanni Mario Filippi. Rebuilt in the late-renaissance and mannerism idiom, the town hall was supposed to match with nearby representative edifices that were mushrooming at the time. The building served as the Lesser Town City Hall until 1784, when the Lesser Town, Hradčany, and Old and New Town merged into one urban unit and their town halls moved to Old Town Square. It was subsequently utilized as a tax archive and political prison. Malostranská beseda itself was established in 1868 and serves to this day as an arts and culture hub. A sweeping reconstruction , propelled by archaeological research, took place in 2006-2009. Malostranská beseda retained its historical value, although its facilities meet modern-day requirements. Members of the Prague Rotary clubs use the premises for unconventional activities and meetings.
Malostranská beseda is part of the Prague Heritage Area, registered as a UNESCO-protected world heritage site.
