Pařížská Street (called Nürnbergerstrasse in 1940–1945) at the entry to Old Town Square was one of the central points of the uprising. The street connects the law faculty building with Old Town Square. The Law Faculty of Charles University was stripped of its function soon after the universities were closed down in November 1939. Beginning in February 1940 the building served as the SS headquarters (Standortkommandatur). This building was the command centre for the battle of the SS units for central Prague. German tanks were shooting down Pařížská Street on 5 and 6 May. The Germans left the building on 9 May 1945.
Sudek's photograph with a view towards the square does not show the remains of a barricade as it may seem, instead it is debris from the destroyed Schier's house (no. 934/I) on the left side of the picture. Building a barricade was impossible due to shooting from the law faculty building.
As Pařížská Street is quite wide, this made the advancement of the German attack easier. Pařížská arose from the urban renewal of Prague at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. Josefov, the former Jewish ghetto, was one of the most affected quarters. The demolition severely affected the urbanism at the core of the city and destroyed many historically valuable buildings. In Europe, Prague was not an exception in this regard – many historical European cities have undergone similar changes, for hygienic, modernizing and representational reasons.