Fodor's Expert Review Karlovo náměstí

This square began life as a cattle market, a function chosen by Charles IV when he established Nové Mĕsto in 1348. The horse market (now Wenceslas Square) quickly overtook it as a livestock-trading center, and an untidy collection of shacks accumulated here until the mid-1800s, when it became a green park named for its patron. Glassy, modern buildings clash with surrounding older architecture, but it's quite representative of Prague's past and present united in one spot.