Prague StreetSmart

VanDam's new 2019 STREETSMART® Prague maps all top attractions including, major architecture, museums, churches, hotels, royal gardens, synagogues, theaters, concert halls and more at an immensely legible scale of 1:12,000 complete with 3-D building illustrations. There is a special cutaway schematic of the famed Prague Castle. Clear information design allows users to read the map from three feet away and has earned VanDam maps a place in the MoMA Collection. The map is film-laminated, accordion folded and pocket size.

Coverage: Central Prague Street Map 1:24,000; Jewish Quarter & Stare Mesto Map: 1:12,000; 3D Prague Castle Map: 1:2,700; Prague Subway & Train map. Dimensions: 4 x 9 folded, 9 x 24 unfolded, fits into shirt pocket or purse.

STREETSMART® Prague is so legible you will easily understand how all parts of the city connect. From The Golden Lane in the Castle to the Kafka Museum, the Petrin Tower to the Staranova in the Jewish Quarter, and the Wallenstein to the Kinsky Gardens. Prague, the city of 100 spires, is studded with architectural styles from Romanesque to Gothic, Baroque to Neo Classical, Art Nouveau to Cubist & Modern to Deconstructivist. Such riches attract multitudes of tourists. Try to go off season.

STREETSMART® Prague covers all the bases from God's perspective to the most minute details. Whatever your proclivities may be this map shows you how to get there with confidence. The walk from the Castle down Nerudova  named after the poet Pablo Nerudas family to Mostecka over the Charles Bridge into Star Mesto, the Gothic quarter, is filled with Central European history and counts as one of the most sensuous urban experiences in the world. Saints grace the bridge while the scent of roses transfixes the walker heading toward the Klementinum and National Archives. 

Next to the Old Town Hall visit the statue of Jan Hus, the famed Czech theologian who was burnt at the stake for heresy against the Catholic church. As founder of Hussitism he was a key predecessor to Protestantism and a seminal figure in the Bohemian Reformation. His execution in 1415 triggered a revolt of the Hussites against their catholic rulers defeating five papal crusades during the Hussite Wars. It is good to remember that this was a time of Papal Schism when Popes and Antipopes Gregory XII and Benedict XIII vied for power and laid claim to the Papacy. It took the Catholic Church until 1999 to apologize and express regret for the brutal murder of Hus.

STREETSMART® Prague A 3-D illustrated cutaway schematic of the 1,100 year old Castle, now home of the Czech President, making it easy for you to understand and navigate its palaces, churches and gardens on the way to the Castle Cafe.

While visiting ponder Franz Kafkas visions of K trying to enter the Castle learning that behind every gate and gatekeeper there would be multitudes more each denying him passage. A grand metaphor for 20th C alienation and bureaucracy and proof of the genius of Kafka as one of the great literary ironists. His visions of the Kafkaesque continue to wield universal power. 

STREETSMART® Prague maps all historic districts including Hradcany, the Castle District, Mala Strana, the Lesser Town; Stare Mesto, the old Gothic Quarter, Nove Mesto, the New Town, Josefov, the former Jewish ghetto and Vysehrad, an area of gardens and castle ruins. Walking is the way to explore them all. With STREETSMART® Prague you will experience Prague with confidence, gain instant STREETSMARTS & a memorable souvenir to boot!

Stephan Van Dam, AIGA is an award-winning cartographer, graphic designer, and information architect. He is the president, principal and creative director of New York-based VanDam Publishing. Twenty-seven of his maps are in the MoMA Collection. The universal power of maps has been his guiding passion for the past 30 years. He's has mapped over 125 world cities, and holds several patents in the field of paper engineering and origami map folding. His work has been honored by the Industrial Design Society of America (IDSA), the American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA), the editors of ID magazine and has been featured on national television and been sighted in numerous feature films. 27 of his maps are in the MoMA Collection. He presented his 4DmApps at the original TED conference in 2002.