Charles Square

Charles Square begins not with its size, but with a bold claim: in 1348, Emperor Charles IV founded it as the main square of the New Town, and it was intended to outshine Prague’s other great plazas. That ambition is etched in blunt fact—the square covers about 80,550 square meters, making it one of the largest in Europe and, for a time, the largest town square of medieval Europe. The first stones set the stage for a grand urban plan that linked the square to Wenceslas Square and Senovážné náměstí, creating a trio of civic anchors connected by a single street network.

From its inception, the square carried a practical purpose that soon took on ceremonial weight. It earned the name Dobytčí trh, the Cattle Market, from the 15th century, a daily reminder that this space served commerce as much as ceremony. The very idea of naming—Karlovo náměstí after its founder in 1848—speaks to Prague’s evolving civic memory: a landscape that remains legible through names as well as through stones.

In the middle of the square, a crucial pivot happens in the late 14th century with the Corpus Christi Chapel.