Dům U sloupu Panny Marie, building in Prague
Dům U Obrazu Panny Marie is a three-story house on a trapezoidal lot at Na Kampě 514/9 in Malá Strana, Prague. Its three late classical facades close the northern tip of the block bounded by Charles Bridge, the Vltava bank, Liechtenstein Palace and Na Kampě square. The facade facing Charles Bridge has a triangular gable with a small balcony whose ornamental railing carries a Marian monogram; above it, in a stucco frame, hangs a picture of the Virgin Mary flanked by two hand-mangle rollers.
Construction began in the second half of the 16th century, but the building suffered serious damage during the Thirty Years' War in 1648. Repairs and expansions followed in the 18th century, while the 19th century brought additional modifications, and a major restoration took place after the 2002 floods.
The house sign U Obrazu Panny Marie is documented from 1653, and the name U Válečků from 1891. The rollers hanging beside the Marian image on the gable balcony recall a laundry mangle once in the house: a washerwoman named Marie caught her hands between the cylinders, called on her patroness, and the rollers parted. Three small lanterns on the balcony were removed before Nikita Khrushchev's 1961 visit to make room for flags; two were later found and rehung in 2018.
The house stands at Na Kampě 514/9, at the northern tip of the Kampa block between Charles Bridge and the Vltava bank. From Charles Bridge look for the triangular gable with the small balcony and the Marian image. Three flood marks on the east facade record water levels in 1784, 1890 and 2002.
The image of Mary above the entrance is decorated with small wooden rollers, around which a legend tells of a washerwoman whose hand was caught in them until she was freed by divine intervention. Three small lamps on the balcony commemorate a former resident named Josef Rousek who risked his life rescuing drowning people from the river.
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