Dům U Dvou slunců, Heritage house in Malá Strana, Czech Republic.
Dům U Dvou slunců is a two-storey row house on Nerudova Street in Malá Strana, with a yellow facade and a red tiled roof. Above the arched passageway, a stone relief shows two sun discs with human faces, framed by acanthus leaves, with the Christogram IHS and an angel's head above. The ground floor also has a door labelled LOTYKAMI and a doorway with a fanlight.
Two separate houses on this site were joined at the start of the 17th century, and the Renaissance building with its rusticated portal dates from that time. In 1614 it belonged to the wife of knight Bohuslav Hrobčický, who lost his property after the 1621 uprising. Around 1650 the baker Jan Toma already used the sign of the Two Suns, and between 1673 and 1690 the house was rebuilt in Baroque style with two volute gables.
The house sign of two sun discs with human faces, a Christogram IHS and an angel's head dates from the Baroque rebuilding of 1673–1690. The ground floor has housed the tavern U dvou slunců, and a bronze plaque of 1895 with the bard Lumír marks where Jan Neruda lived from 1845 to 1857.
The building stands on Nerudova Street, a cobbled road that climbs steeply toward Prague Castle and is easy to walk from the center of the Old Town. The street can be slippery on wet days, so sturdy shoes are a good idea when visiting.
A bronze plaque from 1895 shows the figure of Lumír, a legendary Slavic bard, and honors Neruda's writing, yet most visitors walk past without noticing it. The plaque connects the house to a poetic tradition that goes back well beyond Neruda's own lifetime.
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