Lion again at Prague Castle

On Thursday, November 26 at 5 PM, a lecture will take place at the Mladota House in Prague Castle regarding the current architectural modification of the northern entrance to the Castle.
      The topic of Marek Štěpán's lecture is the space to the left of the Pacassi Gate, which had been empty until last year. When you approached Prague Castle from the north over the Powder Bridge, you certainly did not notice it and did not stop here. It now has a new story - a newly constructed walkway platform with a sculpture of a heraldic lion, symbolically guarding the entrance to the Castle. Like this place, the lion sculpture and the architecture beneath it also have their own story.
      The lion sculpture by Vincenc Makovský was previously located in the II. courtyard of the castle as part of modifications designed by Jaroslav Frágner. After its pendant broke in a car accident and the lion was damaged in the fall, the lion was placed in storage, where it remained for more than 20 years.
The beautiful sculpture could not be returned to its original place because the entrance to the KPR from the II. courtyard is now adorned with a canopy by architect Šípek, and both works would inappropriately compete with each other. Other locations were therefore identified, mostly in the courtyards of the Castle, and their suitability was professionally assessed.
      The most suitable location turned out to be the spot in front of the northern entrance to the inner castle before the Pacassi Gate. The northern entrance to Prague Castle has undergone an urban leap in the last century - from an economic entrance, it has become the main entrance. This intimate urban intervention by Štěpán corresponds to these changes.