The House at the Minute, Prague, Guide du visiteur et quoi faire à proximité

The House at the Minute (Dům U Minuty) is a Renaissance townhouse on Old Town Square in Prague, standing right beside the Old Town Hall and its astronomical clock. Its facade is covered in sgraffito decoration, and it is best known as the childhood home of Franz Kafka, whose family moved in during 1889.

The story behind it

The Kafkas settled here in 1889, when Franz was still a small boy, and the square and its arcades became the backdrop of his early years. The house itself is much older than its famous tenant, and its decorated Renaissance facade was already a feature of the square long before the family arrived.

Kafka later recalled a childhood episode from these streets. Given a small coin, he wanted to hand it to an old beggar woman who sat between Old Town Square and the Small Square, but the sum felt far too grand to give in one go. He changed it into smaller coins, gave her one, ran around the block through the arcades and came back as if he were a new benefactor, and he repeated this several times. He ended up so worn out that he ran home and cried until his mother replaced the coin.

What to look for

• The sgraffito facade, made by layering coloured plaster and scratching through it to reveal the pattern beneath, is the main reason to stop and look up.
• The Old Town Hall and its astronomical clock stand right next door, so you can see the house in the context of the square's oldest buildings.
• The arcades leading toward the Small Square are the streets Kafka described in his beggar-woman memory, and walking them gives the story a physical shape.
• Looking across the open square from the house, you get a wide view of the Gothic spires of the Týn Church and the other buildings around the square.

Tips for your visit

• Ten to fifteen minutes is enough for the facade, but allow longer if you want to combine it with the clock and the rest of the square.
• Go early in the morning or later in the evening, when Old Town Square is quieter and the details of the facade are easier to photograph.
• The house is best appreciated from the outside; if you hope to go in, check current opening hours and access before you set out.
• The Small Square, the Týn Church and the lanes of the Old Town are all a short walk away, so it fits easily into a longer wander.

See it on a quest

The House at the Minute is one stop on Franz Kafka's Prague: Literary Tour, a literary route through the city. You reach it on foot as part of a longer walk through the area, the app tells you about each place as you arrive, and you solve a puzzle based on what is in front of you. It is a paid quest, and one ticket covers the whole group, so you can follow Kafka's Prague at your own pace without a guide or a fixed start time.