The Founding of the New Town

JAN 01 1348 · 12:00

Karlovo náměstí, Charles's vast cattle market at the heart of the New Town, founded 8 March 1348. Place: South and east of the Old Town walls, around the orchards and vineyards of the right bank Figures: Charles IV, King of Bohemia (newly crowned) · the burghers of the Old Town · unnamed surveyors of the royal chancery Three weeks before he founds the university, Charles issues the foundation charter of Nové Město on March 8, 1348. The new walled district is 360 hectares, three times the area of the Old Town, attached to it on the south and east. It is laid out on parchment before a single house is built: three vast market squares (one for horses, one for cattle, one for hay), arterial streets up to twenty-seven meters wide, and zoned quarters for trades the Old Town has expelled. The horse market becomes Wenceslas Square. The cattle market becomes Charles Square; at 80,000 square meters it is the largest medieval public square in Europe and remains so. The hay market becomes Senovážné Square. The walls run from Vyšehrad north to the Vltava, enclosing what is essentially a planned city dropped beside an existing one.