Powder Tower - Mihulka
A passage-way running from Vikarska street afford access to the northern bailey of Prague Castle
with the tower called Mihulka, built in the late 15th century as a part of the new bulwarks designed
by Benedikt Ried. The name "Mihulka" evidently originated in the 19th century. Previously the structure
has been successively called the New Tower, the Round Bastion, the Laboratory or the Swedish Laboratory,
and the Powder Tower.
The Powder Tower was the largest of the cannon towers, but its defence qualities were never put to the test. In the 16th century it was inhabited by the bell-founder and metal-founder Tomas Jaros (the creator or the Singing Fountain in the Royal Garden). At the time of the Emperor Rudolph II an alchemist's workshop, later a gunpowder storehouse existed here. Up to the 20th century the dwelling quarters of the sacristans of St. Vitus Cathedral were situated in Mihulka.
The Chapel of the Holy Cross in Prague Castle’s Second Courtyard houses an extraordinary display of masterpieces amassed from the 11th century for the St. Vitus Church and Cathedral treasury.
