Malostranská beseda, Former town hall in Malá Strana, Prague, Czech Republic

Malostranská beseda is a late Renaissance corner building at Malostranské náměstí 35/21, with a side facade on Letenská street and a courtyard opening to Josefská. Its facade carries stone details such as maskarons and half-figure atlantes on the pilasters, attributed to Giovanni Baptista Bossi. The building now houses a concert hall, restaurant and café.

The third Malá Strana town hall was built after 1478 on the site of the burnt Šternberský house; only two cellar vaults of that Gothic building survive. The present late Renaissance form dates from a rebuild begun in 1617, led by Giovanni Baptista Bossi after an earlier design probably by Giovanni Maria Filippi, who had left Prague in 1612. Swedish troops sacked the unfinished building in 1648, and Vilém Oppenried repaired it in 1660.

The name Malostranská beseda comes from the patriotic social club with a pub that occupied the former town hall from the mid-19th century. The building stands on the Royal Route, which runs from the Powder Tower through Old Town Square and Charles Bridge to Prague Castle. A bronze plaque on the facade commemorates the 1575 Czech Confession, drafted in the council hall.

The building is located in Malá Strana near Charles Bridge and is easy to reach while walking through the neighborhood. Visitors should know that access to the interior is mainly available during scheduled events and concerts.

The two vaulted cellars in the basement served as the Malá Strana town prison, or šatlava, and survive from the Gothic town hall built after 1478. The towers that crown the building today are a 2006–2009 reconstruction; the originals stood from the 17th century until 1828, and the rebuild relied on a 1743 copper engraving by J. J. Dietzler because no building plans survived.