Powder Tower

Right here is a 65 meter monument to unfinished business. Look at those carved statues, the Gothic arches, the ornate stonework. It looks complete, doesn't it? It's been incomplete for over 500 years. Construction started in 1475 when King Vladislaus II wanted a spectacular entrance to the Old Town. This was one of 13 city gates, but different from the rest. It wasn't built for defense. The point was pure spectacle. The king hired master builder Matěj Rejsek to create a gateway worthy of royal coronation processions heading toward the castle. Then came 1483. Riots erupted. The king fled back to the castle. Construction stopped dead. The tower sat there, unfinished. No roof, no final details, just a half built shell of royal ambition. Two centuries pass. Someone looks at this abandoned tower and thinks: perfect place to store gunpowder. That's how the New Tower became the Powder Tower. In 1757, Prussian artillery shelled it. Most of the original sculptures were destroyed. What you see now came from architect Josef Mocker's 1875 restoration. He imagined what it might have looked like if anyone had bothered to finish it. Climb 186 steps to reach the viewing gallery at 44 meters. The foundation sits 9 meters below your feet, built at the bottom of a medieval moat that no longer exists.