House at the Golden Ring Museum – Medieval Prague of King Charles IV

Tucked away on a quiet street behind Prague’s Old Town Square, the House at the Golden Ring is a beautiful old building full of history. Today, it’s part of the Museum of the City of Prague and inside you can find a fascinating exhibition about how the city changed during the time of King Charles IV.

I really liked finding out more about how medieval Prague looked like, learning about the people who lived here centuries ago, and discovering the story of how the city became the heart of the Holy Roman Empire.

My favourite reasons for visiting the House at the Golden Ring Museum

I think the House at the Golden Ring Museum is definitely worth visiting if you like history and want an interesting introduction to how Prague become a city. When I went there, I really enjoyed how it showed how Prague developed during the time of King Charles IV. The museum isn’t too big, but it’s full of interesting things that help me imagine life in the Middle Ages.

I liked the models and videos that show how the city grew and changed. The video mapping of old Prague is very cool—it makes history come alive. There are also original objects from that time, like old tools and decorations, which made me feel closer to the people who lived here hundreds of years ago.

The building itself is beautiful and old, with Gothic cellars and wall paintings. It’s hidden in a small street near the Old Town Square, so it feels like a secret place in the heart of Prague. It’s quiet, not crowded, and gives a nice break from the busy streets outside.

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How long to allocate for your visit

You should plan to spend about 1 to 1.5 hours at the House at the Golden Ring Museum. It’s not a huge museum, but there’s a lot to see if you take your time exploring the exhibitions and enjoying the atmosphere of the old building.

If you enjoy reading the displays and watching the videos, give yourself about 90 minutes. If you just want to walk through and see the highlights, 45–60 minutes is enough.

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What to see inside the museum

My favourite part of the exhibition are the tactile and virtual models of Prague buildings as they developed during the reign of Charles IV. He had a grand plan for the construction of the New Town of Prague and connecting all other separate areas, such as the Old and New Towns, Lesser Town, and Hradčany into a new modern city. The video mapping clearly shows you the development and it’s probably the first time I properly realised how the town grew.

The entire exhibition is accompanied by dramatic scenes that created the atmosphere of the city and had an impact on the life of its inhabitants, such as Charles IV’s birth, his arrival in Prague in 1333, his coronation, and his funeral. The exhibition also includes original artefacts from the collections of the Museum of the City of Prague and other institutions, illustrating the appearance of the city and the daily life of its people during the Luxembourg period.

Among the valuable exhibits is a pilgrim’s badge from the second half of the 14th century, proving that Prague was an important pilgrimage destination in Charles IV’s time.

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I also enjoyed the video mapping of Charles Square, because it just looked so much different than it looks today.

Other models and virtual presentations includes Prague Castle, Vyšehrad, the Chapel of the Body of God, the Hrádek near Kunratice, and a house on Karlova Street.

Another large museum room is dedicated to a how Prague looked like during the Rudolf II reign based on a picture by Aegidius Sadeler.

In 1606, the renowned graphic artist and publisher Aegidius Sadeler presented the city and the world with a depiction of the Czech capital. Philippus van den Bosche created the drawing, and Johann Wechter engraved it.

In 2019, a nine-meter-long animation brought the painting to life and you can see all the painting in front of you moving like a film. It’s really well done and there is so much detail, that you need to stay for a while to really appreciate what’s in front of you.

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The House of the Golden Ring – the museum house history

The House at the Golden Ring was created by merging two separate medieval houses. From the early Gothic period, cellars and a first-floor corridor with an original barrel vault have been preserved, along with fragments of wall paintings from the late 15th century.

Týnská Street, where the house stands, is one of the most winding streets in the Old Town and, judging by its layout, one of the oldest. In some places, it is only 2.68 meters wide. It has seven corners and seven different turn points.

If you stand in front of the house and look up, you can see a house sign—a golden ring above the main door. According to legend, the ring was found by a townsman who hung it on his house gate, because he wanted to ensure magical protection for his home. This was because rings and bracelets—being closed circles—were believed to ward off evil forces.

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Practical Information for visiting the museum

Address: Dům U Zlatého prstenu (House at the Golden Ring), Týnská ulička 6, Prague 1 – Old Town

Opening Times: Monday: Closed, Tuesday – Sunday: 9:00 AM – 6:00 PM

Ticket Prices: Adults: 180 CZK, Reduced (students, seniors): 120 CZK, Family ticket: 390 CZK, Children under 6 years: Free

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How to get to the museum from Old Town Square

Getting to the museum is super easy. Just turn towards the two high black towers of the Tynsky Chram church and find a tiny street next to it, called Tynska Ulicka. Walk through the narrow street and you will see the entrance to the museum at the end of it – right next to the entrance to Ungelt.

This blog post was originally written on 23 October 2025 and last updated on 23 October 2025