St Nicholas Church, Mala Strana

St Nicholas Church, Mala Strana tickets: which one to buy

A modest ticket covers the church, and a slightly dearer one adds the bell tower, which is run separately by the city museum and entered from the street corner. The tower is worth it for an unusual reason: the communist secret police used the top room as an observation post over the American and Yugoslav embassies, and the exhibition covers that as well as the view. Classical concerts are held in the nave almost every evening and sold by promoters at prices well above the entry;

the acoustics are good and the setting is the selling point. Do not confuse this church with the other St Nicholas in the Old Town Square, a different baroque building with its own concerts. Nothing needs booking except the better concerts. The church closes to visitors during mass. Tickets are sold at a desk inside the main door and cash is accepted alongside cards, which is not true of every Prague church.

Visiting St Nicholas Church, Mala Strana: what to see

The Jesuits laid the cornerstone in 1673 and the church took until 1755, built by the Dientzenhofer family, father and son, with Kilian Ignaz finishing the dome and Anselmo Lurago adding the bell tower. It is the high point of Prague baroque and it dominates the Lesser Town from every angle. The nave ceiling carries a fresco of the life of St Nicholas covering 1,500 square metres, one of the largest in Europe, painted by Johann Lukas Kracker.

The dome fresco by Franz Xaver Palko shows the Holy Trinity, and the four colossal statues of the church fathers below it are by Ignaz Platzer. Mozart played the organ here in 1787, and a requiem for him was sung in the church a few weeks after his death, attended by several thousand people. The organ of 2,500 pipes was built in 1746 and still works, and a plaque in the north aisle records Mozart's visit and the requiem that followed his death.

St Nicholas Church, Mala Strana opening hours and the best time to go

Open daily from morning to evening with shorter hours in winter, and the tower keeps the city museum's schedule. Concert evenings close the church to ordinary visitors from late afternoon. Mala Strana is busiest in the middle of the day, when groups walk down from the castle to the Charles Bridge; early morning is quiet and the square outside is one of the most photogenic in Prague.

The interior is dim and gilded and photographs poorly on a dull day. Dress modestly. Photography without flash is allowed for a small fee. Allow forty minutes, an hour with the tower. The castle is fifteen minutes uphill and the Charles Bridge five minutes down. The Lesser Town square outside has trams running through it and is one of the few places in the district where you can sit down without paying.