Golden Lane

A row of tiny, brightly painted houses built into the northern wall of Prague Castle, and one of the most photographed streets in the city.

The houses were built at the end of the sixteenth century for the castle guards and craftsmen; the name probably comes from goldsmiths who lived here. A popular story says Rudolf II's alchemists worked here, but there is no evidence for it. People lived in the houses until the mid-twentieth century.

The most famous resident was Franz Kafka, who wrote in house No. 22, rented by his sister Ottla, in 1916 and 1917. Today several houses are furnished to show how their inhabitants lived — a seamstress, a goldsmith, a film historian — and upstairs a corridor displays armour and weapons. At the end of the lane, Daliborka Tower was a prison, named after its first inmate, the knight Dalibor.

Golden Lane is part of the Prague Castle basic circuit; see Prague Castle tickets. It is very narrow, so it fills up quickly: visit early in the morning or towards the end of the day. Read more about the legends in Rudolf II and the alchemists.