038 - Czeh Republic

The Golden Lane (Zlatá ulička) in the complex of Prague Castle. The street full of small houses built in Mannerism style at the end of the 16th century. The street was created during the construction of northern fortification at the end of the 15th century. In 1597 the emperor Rudolf II decided to give the space there to the castle marksmen who guarded the fortification. But there were 24 marksmen and a lack of space. Therefore, the marksmen had to build very small houses for them and their families. The material they used was stone, mud, and wood. The emperor prohibited to build windows in the direction to the Deer Moat or to sell or rent the house to somebody else. During the decades several houses were destroyed, after 1657 there were only 14 houses left. Castle marksmen were not needed so much any more, that’s why more and more people of other occupations came to live there. The Golden Gate hosted both rich and poor people, artists, clerks, footmen, etc. One of the famous inhabitants of this street was famous writer Franz Kafka in house no. 22 or Prague prophetess Madame de Thebes, who was killed by the Gestapo in the war because she foretold the end of Nazism.

Golden Lane got its name from the story of alchymists living in the street during the reign of Rudolf II who tried to make not only the philosopher stone or the elixir of youth, but also to transform metals into gold. Even though these stories are not based on the truth, there is a real story dating to the beginning of the 20th century. One of the local house was inhabited by an old man, doctor of philosofy Uhle, who spent all his money on old books Souvenir shop about magic. He made secret experiments in his lab inside the house. In 1831 people in the Golden Lane heard a big detonation from his house. When fire fighters entered the house and distinguished fire, they found Uhle dead with a yellow stone in his hand. Later on the stone was proved to be gold. How the gold got into the house is still not known. Maybe he really made his and many other alchymists’ longtime dream come true.

004 - Czeh Republic

A rose is a perennial flower shrub or vine of the genus Rosa, within the family Rosaceae, that contains over 100 species and comes in a variety of colors. The species form a group of erect shrubs, and climbing or trailing plants, with stems that are often armed with sharp prickles. It is a common error to refer to roses having thorns. But thorns are modified leaves, whereas these sharp protrusions on a rose are modified epidermal tissues (prickles). Most are native to Asia, with smaller numbers of species native to Europe, North America, and northwest Africa. Natives, cultivars and hybrids are all widely grown for their beauty and fragrance.

003 - Czeh Republic

Tulipa, commonly called tulip, is a genus of about 150 species of bulbous flowering plants in the family Liliaceae. The species are perennials from bulbs, the tunicate bulbs often produced on the ends of stolons and covered with glabrous to variously hairy papery coverings. The species include short low-growing plants to tall upright plants, growing from 10 to 70 centimeters (4–27 in) tall. They can even grow in the cold and snowy winter. Plants typically have 2 to 6 leaves, with some species having up to 12 leaves. The cauline foliage is strap-shaped, waxy-coated, usually light to medium green and alternately arranged. The blades are somewhat fleshy and linear to oblong in shape. The large flowers are produced on scapes or subscapose stems normally lacking bracts. The stems have no leaves to a few leaves, with large species having some leaves and smaller species have none. Typically species have one flower per stem but a few species have up to four flowers. The colourful and attractive cup shaped flowers typically have three petals and three sepals, which are most often termed tepals because they are nearly identical. The six petaloid tepals are often marked near the bases with darker markings. The flowers have six basifixed, distinct stamens with filaments shorter than the tepals and the stigmas are districtly 3-lobed. The ovaries are superior with three chambers. The 3 angled fruits are leathery textured capsules, ellipsoid to subglobose in shape, containing numerous flat disc-shaped seeds in two rows per locule.