Main Staircase of the Old Town Hall

Josef Sudek captured the highest level of the staircase in the burnt town hall, between the third and fourth floors of Volflin's former house. The staircase was built in 1853 after plans by the builder Jan Bělský as a replacement for the older, late Gothic staircase. During the post-war reconstruction, the staircase was restored to its original form from before the fire.KB (ZV) [Klára Benešovská (Zuzana Všetečková)], čp. 1/I, in: Pavel Vlček a kol., Umělecké památky Prahy. Staré Město, Josefov, Academia, Praha, 1996, s. 139–140. Up to today, it serves to reach the representative halls of the town hall, portals of the Senate and the Presidium, the chapel and the tower.

On the last landing, the staircase was once decorated with a copy of the sculpture Lumír by Antonín Wagner, the original of which was made for the National Theater. In 1875, Wagner's design won the competition for the sculptures of Záboj and Lumír, figures from the Manuscript of Dvůr Králové, over the designs by Josef Václav Myslbek. The sculptures were intended for the front pylons of the staircase in the new National Theater building.

The statue of Lumír is no longer standing on the staircase of the Old Town Hall, only the vacant plinth remains. It may have been removed due to the severe damage in 1945 or because of the lack of space after the elevator was built in the center of the staircase.The copy of the sculpture is not found anywhere in the town hall or in the Prague City Museum. A smaller lift has been operating in the same location since the 1920s, seen in the cables captured in Sudek's photograph (I thank Antonín Baloun from Prague City Tourism for his consultation).