Movie Travel: 10 Classic Films That Guide You Through Prague's Cultural Landscape

You never quite know from which moment the deep impression of Prague first took root in your mind.

She once existed in Franz Kafka’s absurd and gloomy castle prose, in Milan Kundera’s philosophical murmurs on the lightness and weight of life; or perhaps in the ornate, flowing Art Nouveau lines of Alphonse Mucha, and among the notes of the surging, shimmering Vltava River in Bedřich Smetana’s Má Vlast.

In modern times, we more often catch glimpses of her elegant figure in fleeting moments on the silver screen. Yet most of the time, unless you look into it, you have no idea that the breathtaking classical European city in the film is actually Prague itself!

Below is a selection of 10 classic films shot on location in Prague, Czech Republic, letting you walk through the myriad charms of this radiant Bohemian city amid interwoven light and shadow:

1. Amadeus (1984)

• Highlight Tags: 8 Academy Awards, directed by Miloš Forman
• Classic Locations: Wallenstein Palace and Gardens, Archbishop’s Palace, Estates Theatre (formerly Nostic Theatre)

Amadeus, which swept the Academy Awards for Best Picture in 1985, is arguably the landmark masterpiece that truly stunned Hollywood with Prague. Czech-born master director Miloš Forman returned to his homeland and transformed the entire Old Town of Prague into a perfect stand-in for 18th-century Vienna, the capital of music.

The scenes in the film are gorgeous, with the crew carefully selecting the “Wallenstein Palace and Gardens” and the “Archbishop’s Palace” in the Lesser Town as the magnificent court backdrop. Even more celebrated is that all the Mozart opera performance scenes in the film were shot on location at the historic stage where Mozart himself conducted the world premiere of his masterpiece Don Giovanni in 1787—the “Estates Theatre” (formerly the Nostic Theatre). Here, the weight of history and art overlap perfectly.

2. The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1988)

• Highlight Tags: Adapted from Milan Kundera’s novel The Unbearable Lightness of Being
• Classic Locations: Alleys of Prague’s Old Town, streets beside Charles Bridge

Adapted from Milan Kundera’s novel, which is steeped in existentialist philosophical speculation and political critique, the film stars Daniel Day-Lewis and Juliette Binoche.

At a time when the Iron Curtain had not yet fully collapsed during the Cold War, the crew could not undertake large-scale filming within Czechoslovakia. Many important scenes (such as the grand spectacle of Soviet tanks suppressing citizens during the 1968 “Prague Spring”) had to be shot in Lyon, France, and Switzerland. Yet the director still secretly led a lean crew deep into Prague’s Old Town to capture precious street footage, intermittently interspersed behind the characters, injecting an irreplaceable soul into this heavy elegy of an era.

3. Kolya (1996)

• Highlight Tags: 1997 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, the Svěrák father-and-son duo
• Classic Locations: Petřín Lookout Tower, Prague Metro, old houses in the Lesser Town

This is a heartwarming Czech masterpiece that adopts a realistic, unpretentious style yet brims with the unique dark humor of Eastern Europe. Directed by Jan Svěrák, with his father Zdeněk Svěrák writing the screenplay and starring as the lead.

With delicate cinematography, the film records the everyday life of Prague citizens on the eve of the Velvet Revolution. The most iconic pilgrimage spot in the film is undoubtedly the scene where the old musician takes the little boy up the towering “Petřín Lookout Tower” to overlook the entire city of Prague—the forest of a thousand spires, the rolling red rooftops, and the Vltava River shimmering in the sunlight, revealing the warmest, most lived-in scenery of Prague.

4. I Served the King of England (2006)

• Highlight Tags: Adapted from Bohumil Hrabal’s original novel, directed by Jiří Menzel
• Classic Locations: Art Nouveau Palace Hotel (exterior), French Restaurant at the Municipal House (interior)

Adapted from the eponymous masterpiece by Czech literary giant Bohumil Hrabal, and directed by national treasure filmmaker Jiří Menzel, who won the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival. With a whimsical, humorous rhythm, the film tells the legendary life of a short-statured restaurant waiter who chases fame and fortune amid the turbulence of the times, climbs to the top, and returns to purity.

The entire film is as vividly colored as a fairy-tale oil painting. The extremely luxurious “Hotel de Paris” in the film borrows its exterior from the famous “Art Nouveau Palace Hotel,” while the ornate, resplendent banquet hall inside was shot on location at the “French Restaurant of the Municipal House,” a jewel of Prague’s Art Nouveau architecture.

5. Empties (2007)

• Highlight Tags: The Svěrák father-and-son