Not All Visitors Welcome

PRAGUE become one of the major cities of Europe after it was chosen in the 1300s as the capital of the kings of Bohemia.

By 1475, when construction began of  New Tower - better-known today as Powder Tower, after it was later used to store gunpowder - Prague was home to about 70,000 people (estimates vary), making it the third-biggest city in the Holy Roman Empire.

Despite its formidable appearance, the tower was designed as a decorative entrance rather than for defence

Swedish troops captured the west bank of the city in 1648, but their attacks on the east bank, where the tower formed part of the boundary between the old town and the so-called new town, were halted after the 30 Years War ended in October of that year.

Prussia went one further and captured the whole city in 1744 following a three-day bombardment.

Thirteen years later they again besieged Prague, this time unsuccessfully, but Powder Tower, as it was by then well-known, suffered extensive damage.

The tower was restored, and then underwent extensive alterations in the late-1800s.