A Tour of the Old Town Hall

On Friday, 31 March 2023, a school field trip took place as part of History classes (the Middle Ages being the current topic), in the form of a thorough tour of the historical spaces of the Old Town Hall. The tour, arranged in good time by the teacher in cooperation with the town hall's staff (at a friendly admission price), allowed students to expand the information gained in school lessons with further, often unsuspected, dimensions. Thanks to the friendly atmosphere, it was possible to hold a discussion on the topic of municipal self-government, the decoration of the individual halls, chambers, the tower, the astronomical clock, and the chapel, as well as to give students an insight into the continuous development of the building complex from the earliest times through to the brutal damage inflicted during the Prague Uprising in May 1945 (a reminder of which is the still-missing eastern wing of the town hall, which once contained its heart — the great council hall and the city archive). Particularly striking was the reminder of the historical figure of Master Jan Hus and the historic moment of the unanimous election of Jiří z Poděbrad as King of Bohemia (2 March 1458) beneath the large paintings in Brožík's Hall. That our students, with their refinement and knowledge, also caught the attention of other visitors to the town hall (from the Wallachia region) is becoming a rule by now. After all, many students from 1.E are active members of the History and Art Club, which brings together students with a deeper interest in learning about the past in the hope of better understanding our present.

Jaroslav Sojka