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 Just steps from the fabled, dramatic Charles Bridge, this intimate, historic retreat promises a very personal touch with storybook charm and gracious, intuitive service.
The Alchymist Grand Hotel and Spa represents the renaissance of a magnificent Baroque landmark, "Dům u Ježíška" dating from the 16th century and exquisitely transformed with the most modern comforts into a luxury and distinctive hotel that reflects the nobility and charm of historic Prague.
If looking for a luxury boutique hotel in the very centre of Prague, the Alchymist Grand Hotel and Spa is the place to be. This beautiful pearl and masterpiece is the prominent Prague luxury hotel of choice for many celebrities and discerning travelers. |
 History of the building
History of "Dům u Ježíška" (House at the Jesus Child) housing the Alchymist Grand Hotel and Spa.
The building plots on which the Dům u Ježíška and other buildings stand-on originated from the apportionment of local gardens that took place towards the end of the sixteenth century under the supervision of the notable builder Oldřich Avostalis. Based on the wishes of the Lesser Town settlement representatives, he also drafted the regulation of two streets, today's Břetislavova and Vlašská streets. He also proposed the construction of eighteen new buildings here. Towards the end of his life in 1592 - 1593, he led the reconstruction of the Augustinian monastery by the Church of St. Thomas in Lesser Town. He was buried here when he died on May 10th, 1597.
The oldest preserved part of the Dům u Ježíška in Lesser Town is the rear part of the structure facing the court-yard, built after 1591. The lower part of the original tower structure, the perimeter masonry of which is supported by steel bars, could date from the fortification of the Lesser Town in 1257, the oldest Premyslid fortification. |
 This tower, which later underwent a Baroque adaptation, is decorated between the second-floor windows with a very well preserved polychrome relief sculpture of Our Lady of Loretto. Some sources hypothesize and many times even state that the author of the sculpture is the carver and painter Ludvík Kohl.
The first written information about today's Dům u Ježíška dates from 1548, i.e. even before the above mentioned property apportionment. The building must have certainly looked different back then and its ground plan was much more modest. It was owned by Ruprecht Haugvic of Haugvic, who, having debts, was forced to transfer it to Jiřík Zejdlic of Šenfeld. His three grandsons, Henry, George, and Ladislav, sold it to the Lesser Town community, which also bought the adjoining building, the House of the Golden Scale, number 364, which permitted, from the point of view of this area, a major urban achievement. |
 Kašpar Bytešský bought the building in 1596 and, just one year later, sold it to the imperial counselor Kryštof of Fictum. Another change in the property's ownership took place in 1606, when the builder Horacio Fontain de Brussat bought it. He then gave it in 1636 as a present to his nephew Rajchart de Bois, a Lesser Town townsman and tailor. Rajchart de Bois named it the Town of Paris Building, possibly because he wanted to bring attention to his French origin. In 1685, the building became the property of Petr Fink of Finkenthal. Under his and, after his death, his widowed wife Rozálie's ownership, it went through a Baroque reconstruction and received its current shape. |
 The building, located on the upper part of Tržiště Street, is also famous because the young František Palacký lived there from 1823 to 1825 when he arrived in Prague.
In the nineteenth century a picture of the Infant Jesus of Prague was hung on the balcony on the main facade and the Lesser Town neighbors began to call it the Dům u Ježíška. The new name caught on and has been preserved until today. The name has also been reinforced by the fact that the widely worshipped wax statuette of the Infant Jesus of Prague is placed on its own altar in the nearby Carmelite Church of Our Lady of Victory.
In 1988, after prior preparation, an extensive regeneration and structural reconstruction commenced in this locality, defined by Nerudova, Tržiště, and Vlašská streets, and collectively called Jánský vršek. |
 The Dům u Ježíška is also linked with several legends. One of them says that a convent once stood here and a local nun seriously violated the rules of her order. Although the legend does not specify her offence, we can assume it was a breach of the order of celibacy, because the punishment that followed was the usual sentence for this kind of behavior - she was bricked up alive. Legend claims that her unhappy soul has been wandering here around midnight ever since. The legend also suggests a solution - the nun will be freed only when the house built on the former convent foundations is demolished and the nun's remains are duly buried. |
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