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The city’s most hated building among Praguers was built in the 1970s, and was intended, according to rumour, to jam foreign radio signals or emit nefarious radiation. Despite its ugly, utilitarian design, however, the view of Prague’s skyline from the top of the 100-m (330-ft) tower is spectacular on a clear day.

After a failed attempt to embalm President Klement Gottwald after his death, the Communist government was forced to cremate their favoured leader. His ashes, as well as those of various other apparatchiks , were buried here atop Vítkov Hill, behind the giant statue of Jan Žižka. They were removed after the Velvet Revolution), and in reparation, the National Museum hopes to create a monument to the victims of totalitarianism on the site.

Prague Castle would fit inside this massive arena situated on Petřín Hill. The stadium was built for Sokol, an organisation that promoted physical culture. It was first used in 1926 to host traditional gymnastic rallies or slets . Today, the stadium is a popular music venue and local kids crowd in to the space to see the likes of U2, Ozzy Osbourne and numerous other touring rock bands.

Where sculptor David Černý’s giant metronome now swings once stood a 14,000-ton statue of Joseph Stalin – the largest in the world – backed by a queue of admiring citizens, which was visible from all over the city. His successor Nikita Khrushchev had the statue destroyed by a series of dramatic dynamite explosions in 1962. Pop star Michael Jackson launched his 1996 World Tour in Prague, unwisely erecting a statue of himself on the spot.

Communist Czechoslovakia’s planners sought to decentralize Prague, building monoliths such as the former Palace of Culture anywhere but in the actual city centre. The post-Communist government has refurbished the interior in a bid to turn it into a major convention centre, but, as yet, they haven’t managed to find a buyer .

In the reconstruction of the Anděl Centre, developers removed an epic mosaic tribute to the friendship between Moscow and Prague, but from the metro platforms below, you can still see frieze tributes to Soviet cosmonauts. Even if you’re not riding the metro, you will need a standard ticket to access the platform.

This bronze statue recalls the Red Army’s liberation of Prague in 1945: a grateful resistance fighter greets a Soviet footsoldier with a bunch of lilac and a, presumably brotherly, kiss. It’s one of the few pro-Soviet monuments still standing in Prague.

Warsaw-Pact tanks invaded the Czech capital in 1968 to put an end to Alexander Dubček’s Prague Spring liberalization. Among those who paid for their resistance with their lives were Czech Radio journalists, who first broadcast the news that the nation was under attack. A plaque in front of the building honours their bravery.

From its construction in the 1970s until Czechoslovakia split into Czech and Slovak republics in 1993, this was the Federal Assembly building. If there are bored young soldiers guarding the entrance when you visit, it means Radio Free Europe is still broadcasting to Afghanistan.

This museum seeks to help visitors experience totalitarianism first-hand through reproductions and genuine objects from the Communist era. The most chilling area is the reconstructed interrogation room. Although locals might not agree, the tour is more fun than it sounds.