Vyšehrad

Vyšehrad is a historic fortress rising above the right bank of the Vltava river in Prague, occupying a rocky promontory that has shaped the city's identity for more than a thousand years. According to Czech legend, it was here that Princess Libuše prophesied the founding of Prague, and the site remained a seat of Přemyslid rulers before the royal court moved to Prague Castle. The complex encompasses the neo-Gothic Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul, the Vyšehrad Cemetery where figures including Antonín Dvořák and Alfons Mucha are buried, and the remains of Romanesque rotundas that speak to its medieval origins.

Among the experiences currently available at Vyšehrad is a guided visit to the Casemates and Gorlice, a network of brick-vaulted underground passages built into the Baroque fortification walls during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The Gorlice hall within the casemates houses the original sandstone statues from the Charles Bridge, preserved here after being replaced by replicas on the bridge above.