Fodor's Expert Review Královská zahrada

This peaceful swath of greenery affords lovely views of St. Vitus Cathedral and the castle's walls and bastions. Originally laid out in the 16th century, it endured devastation in war, neglect in times of peace, and many redesigns, reaching its present parklike form in the early 20th century. Luckily, its Renaissance treasures survived. One of these is the long, narrow Míčovna (Ball Game Hall), built by Bonifaz Wohlmut in 1568, its garden front completely covered by a dense tangle of allegorical sgraffiti.

The Královský letohrádek (Royal Summer Palace, aka Queen Anne's Summer Palace or Belvedere) at the garden's eastern end deserves its reputation as one of the most beautiful Renaissance structures north of the Alps. Designed by Italian architects in the mid-1500s, it has a copper roof that looks like an upturned boat's keel riding above the graceful arcades of the ground floor. During the 18th and 19th centuries, military engineers tested artillery in the interior, which had already lost its rich furnishings to Swedish soldiers during their 1648 siege of Prague. The Renaissance-style giardinetto (little garden) adjoining the summer palace centers on another masterwork: the Italian-designed, Czech-produced Singing Fountain, which resonates from the sound of falling water.