Stará rychta – Havelská brána Gate

The town house no. 404 / I on the corners of Knights Street 12 and the street on the bridge is one of the oldest buildings in Old Town. This Gothic house was built over the moat of the fortifications and served as fast - the seat of the city administration - and at the same time as part of the city gate. Since 1964, it has been protected as a cultural monument.

The oldest settlements show archaeological findings of Romanesque masonry fragments in the basement of the house, related to the founding of Havel City in 1232-1234 by King Wenceslas I. It is assumed that the corner house with the tower was already the office of the old express. During the fortification of the Old Town in the late 13th century, the rear building - Havel Gate - was added to the house - which was later cancelled after the founding of the New Town.

The first written mention dates back to 1357- 1360, when the house was owned by Boríta; Then the Bishop of Minden bought it for his brother. In the fifties of the 15th century (since 1549) there was an appeal court. Between 1409-1428 it is listed as a speedster's house, courtyard or tower. The east wing originated in 1490-1494. On the ground floor there was a dense economy - shops, warehouses, pharmacy and wine bar, since 1687. After the battle of the White Mountain, the house was confiscated by the city and rented to theatre companies for their performances. There was a prison in the basement; in 1817, logs, chains and iron rings were preserved here.

Today's appearance was shaped by Renaissance reconstruction around 1588, when the mayor Václav Kročín from Drahobejle lived here. The house obtained a Renaissance portal from a sandstone with Yonian columns. The facade was decorated by a sgraffite with the alleged appearance of the persecution of Christians by the priestess Drahomer, who was killed in 1782 during classical reconstruction. The passage preserved Renaissance crosses and portals without doors.

In the 18th century, Ignatius Palliardi converted the house into a rental apartment. He raised the west wing, he added the stalls to the yard, and he modified the facade into three symmetrical parts. The five-axis central risalite ends with a triangular shield; Side facades have Mansard windows. The four-wing house is surrounded by a rectangular courtyard with valuable baroque arcades on the south side and stonewalled with stone crackers.

Since 2003, the house has been serving for the most part the Sanitary Station of the capital of Prague. There are restaurants and travel agencies on the ground floor, tenants live on the floors. Hundreds of visitors walk through the house every day, taking away an interesting trace of medieval Old Town life.