The Golden Lane, which was also known as Goldsmith's Lane, is a great curiosity at the Prague Castle. The dwelling’s miniature size is in sharp contrast to the grandeur of the other castle buildings. The attached dwellings are narrow, shallow, and much smaller than the bathrooms most of us enjoy in our present homes. It is a reminder of the time when the castle was a closed city.
The narrow street is lined with colorful miniature houses that were originally occupied by the castle servants. The name suggests that many of these may have been goldsmiths. Some were also castle guards.
By the 1800s, the lane had become home to various artists and craftsmen, who worked in the tiny shops downstairs and lived often in a small single room upstairs. When the Communists took over, they evicted all of the inhabitants and turned the lane into a souvenir street for tourists.
During the 20th century, several notable people occupied Golden Lane. Among them was the writer Franz Kafka, who lived here from 1916 to 1917 in house no. 22.
Today, small tourist shops still occupy most of the dwellings. Running along the roofs above the shops is a gallery containing an exhibition of armour, torture devices, and period costumes.
You may have to duck to enter most of these dwellings - were people really that much shorter over 100 years ago?