Charles Square and the Heydrich crypt
Prague's largest square, the hall of the first defenestration, and the crypt where the parachutists made their last stand. This is a Claude-drafted route awaiting the editor's walk.

1. Karlovo náměstí (the park)
One of the largest squares in the world, but now mostly a quiet park of plane trees and lawns — *náměstí* in name, garden in fact. Start with a slow loop; the scale only registers when you try to cross it.

2. New Town Hall (Novoměstská radnice)
At the north end, the hall where in 1419 a crowd threw the councillors from the windows — the first Prague defenestration, the spark of the Hussite wars. Climb the tower if it's open for the view down the square.

3. Faust House (Faustův dům)
At the square's south-east corner, a red baroque house wrapped in alchemy legend — the one where Faust is said to have struck his bargain. It's a university building now; the stories are the draw, not the door.

4. Church of SS Cyril and Methodius — the National Memorial
On *Resslova*, the Orthodox church whose crypt sheltered the parachutists who killed Reinhard Heydrich in 1942. Surrounded and out of ammunition, they died here rather than surrender. The memorial in the crypt is sober and quiet; the bullet scars on the street-level wall are still there. Open daily except Monday — go slowly, and read.

5. Emmaus Monastery (Emauzy)
South to the *Emauzy* abbey, founded 1347, its medieval church given a pair of swooping reinforced-concrete spires after a 1945 air raid took the old towers. The Gothic cloister frescoes inside survived. The modern spires read as a scar made beautiful.

6. Back across the square
Return up the eastern side of the park, past the baroque *Kostel sv. Ignáce*, to the metro where you started. A short walk, but a heavy one — give it the morning, and give yourself somewhere quiet after.

Charles Square and the Heydrich crypt