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While Prince Bořivoj made do with a wooden structure, subsequent residences were built on top of each other as the tastes of Bohemia’s rulers changed (see Features of the Royal Palace). Halls are decorated with coats of arms.

Ferdinand I and his son Maximilian II gave the dour castle some greenery in the late 16th century, and the First Republic architect Josip Plečnik created the lined paths, steps and grottoes that extend to Malá Strana.

Ferdinand I also created these “pleasure gardens” for his wife Anne. Italian in style, they included a maze, a zoo, and the Belvedere.

These stone giants have dominated the First Courtyard since Empress Maria Theresa asked Ignatz Platzer to sculpt them in the 18th century.

Princess Mlada established the first Czech convent here in the 10th century. The Romanesque building now houses artworks from the National Gallery.

Prince Vratislav built the basilica in AD 921. The chapel of St Wenceslas’s grandmother, St Ludmila, is decorated with beautiful 16th-century paintings.

The White Tower contains a torture chamber and, today, shops selling grisly souvenirs. The gangways from which archers once watched over the moat are lined with replicas of weapons.

This was Rudolf II’s top research facility, where alchemists sought the Philosopher’s Stone. Oddly, the Czech name “mihulka ” implies a place where lampreys are kept.

The colourful hovels built into the castle wall were home to goldsmiths so they could avoid guild dues in town.

Dalibor, something of a Czech Robin Hood, was captured and became the first prisoner of the tower that now takes his name.