U Mecenáše Restaurant in Prague, Malá Strana

Spaces revealing the history of Prague

U Mecenáše Restaurant was reopened in 2015, and is one of the oldest restaurants in Prague. The house in which the restaurant resides is the last surviving purely Renaissance building on Malostranské Náměstí Square, however the history of the building is much older. In the walls of the house—in the restaurant’s cellar—fragments of the fortification wall of the Malostranské Gothic fortress have been preserved. After Malá Strana was torched in the 15th century during the Hussite Wars, the Gothic cellars were the only remnants of the former building. During the era of Rudolf II, the house underwent an expansive renovation, completed in 1608, and the exterior appearance of this reconstruction survives to this day. During this time period, the building housed the well-known wine bar, U Mecenáše, which was frequented by Tycho Brahe, Johannes Kepler, Adrien de Vries, and other Renaissance cavaliers. It was also reportedly visited by Prague’s most famous executioner, Jan Mydlář.