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Benedict Ried created a mastery of Gothic design with his elaborate vaulting here. Since the First Republic, the country’s presidents have been ceremoniously chosen here, but it has also been used for coronations and jousting tournaments.

The low steps and vaulted ceiling of this stairway permitted mounted knights to make spectacular entrances to tournaments held in Vladislav Hall.

Only 10 years and a few steps separate the southern wing from the main hall, but in the interim, Benedict Ried moved castle architecture from Gothic to Renaissance. Bohemian nobles met here in an administrative body when the king was away.

The first battle of the Thirty Years’ War was staged here. Protestant noblemen threw two Catholic governors and their secretary from the east window. Their fall was broken by a dung heap – or an intervening angel, depending on whom you ask.

The coats of arms decorating the walls belong to clerks who kept tabs on property ownership and court decisions from 1614 to 1777. Until the reign of Maria Theresa, record books were not numbered, but identified by elaborate covers.

Bohemian nobles met here with the king in a prototype parliament. The king sat on the throne (the one seen today is a 19th-century replica), the archbishop sat to the king’s right, while the estates sat on his left. The portraits on the wall show, from the left, Maria Theresa, her husband Franz, Josef II, Leopold II and Franz I, who fought Napoleon at Austerlitz.

At the eastern end of Vladislav Hall, a doorway leads to a balcony above the Chapel of All Saints. Peter Parler modelled it on the Gothic Sainte-Chapelle in Paris. After fire destroyed it in 1541, it was redesigned in Baroque style. Of particular artistic note is Hans von Aachen’s Triptych of the Angels .

Prince Soběslav literally laid the foundations for Prague Castle, building the first stone palace here in the 11th century.

These rooms became buried as a result of subsequent construction overhead. A replica of the crown jewels is on display; the real thing was kept here during World War II.

These impressive portraits were created in the late 14th century and include the grandfather-father-grandson set of John of Luxembourg, Charles IV and Wenceslas IV.