The Great Malá Strana Fire

JAN 01 1541 · 12:00

Contemporary 1541 broadsheet by Heynrich Steyer depicting the fire that consumed Malá Strana, Hradčany, and the Bohemian Land Rolls. The wind drives the flames uphill toward the castle. Place: Malá Strana, Hradčany, Prague Castle Figures: Ferdinand I, in absentia · the burghers of the Lesser Town · the archivists of the Land Rolls (too late) On the afternoon of 2 June 1541, a fire breaks out in a Malá Strana house (the chronicles disagree on which one) and the June wind takes it uphill. Within hours it is in Hradčany. By evening half of the Lesser Town, the castle's western wing, the cathedral of St Vitus (still half-built since Parléř), and the deanery archive are burning together. The most consequential loss is the Bohemian Land Rolls, the medieval property register of the kingdom, kept since the thirteenth century in the Castle. Two and a half centuries of deeds, dowries, mortgages, and noble pedigrees go up in a single Tuesday.