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The FQMT08 conference will take place at the following site:

Pyramida Hotel
Address: Orea hotel Pyramida ****, Bělohorská 24, 169 01 Praha 6


The FQMT08 conference welcome party will take place at:

Wallenstein Palace Garden



One of the public lectures and classical concert will take place at:

St. Simon and Juda Church



The FQMT08 conference dinner will take place at:

Břevnov Monastery

You will find more detail information about conference sites and how to get there, below.
All maps, which will be referred to below, you can also find altogether under
the item Maps in the PDF format - you can print out all of them if you wish.

Pyramida Hotel was built in 1980 in the neo-functionalist style with an interesting star-like ground plan and pyramid-like outer shape. In 1999 a complete renovation of interiors took place. The hotel offers a wide selection of conference services, see here.

Pyramida Hotel is situated in the residential area of Prague called Břevnov near the Prague Castle - see map Prague Castle neighborhood . It is in the same time very near the historical centre of Prague and Prague international airport - about 20 minutes by car. From the Pyramida Hotel you can reach easily many historical and important places of Prague by trams 22 or 23 which have their stops nearly in front of the Pyramida Hotel: Prague Castle within 5 minutes, Lesser Town is about 10 minutes by tram, Charles Bridge area, too, Old Town and New Town centers (in the vicinity of Old Town Square and Wenceslas Square) within 20 minutes ride.

The registration on Sunday (July 27) will take part in the Entrance Hall of the Pyramida Hotel.
Welcome refreshment on Sunday will be held in the Lounge of the hotel.

All lectures of the FQMT08 conference from Monday till Saturday (from July 28 to August 2) will be held in the Congress Hall of the Pyramida Hotel.

You can find more about Pyramida Hotel here.

How to get there:
Pyramida Hotel is located in the area of Prague called Břevnov near the Prague castle - see map Prague center- FQMT08 sites and more detailed maps Prague Castle neighborhood and Pyramida Hotel neighborhood or a map of the Pyramida Hotel.

How to reach the Pyramida Hotel from the Airport by public transport:
1. Take a bus (No 119 or Airport Express) to the Metro (underground) terminal Dejvická.
2. Use an underpass to reach the tram station Dejvická located in the middle lane of the street, very near the point you get off the bus - see map Dejvická station neighborhood .
3. Take tram No 36 to the stop Malovanka (5th stop).
4. Walk about 100 m ahead - on right side you will see the the main entrance of the Pyramida Hotel - see map Pyramida Hotel neighborhood .

How to reach the Pyramida Hotel from various places in town:
>From Metro station Dejvická of Line A the hotel can be reached by tram No 36 within 10 minutes.
>From Metro station Malostranská of Line A the hotel can be reached by trams No 22 or 23 within 10 minutes.

Parking places
There are free parking places in streets around the Hotel.
Guarded parking places are available at the Hotel for about 12 EUR per 24 hours.

Walks
Many historical places of Prague, as for example Prague Castle or Charles Bridge, can be reached from the Pyramida Hotel within a pleasant 30 minutes walk.
For walks to interesting places in the nearest neighborhood of the Pyramida Hotel see map Pyramida Hotel neighborhood .

Wallenstein Palace is situated just below the Prague Castle, in the very center of the Lesser Town (Malá Strana) in close vicinity the Lesser Town Square and the Charles Bridge - see map Wallenstein Palace neighborhood . The origin of the settlement in the Lesser Town is directly linked to Prague castle, which was founded around 880 AD. The oldest settlement of the future city named Prague was concentrated just to places below the castle. In this area the second town of Prague was later formed: the space between the river of Vltava and Prague Castle was fortified in the 13th century and the Lesser Town was founded in 1257 by the Czech King Přemysl Otakar II.

The Wallenstein Palace was built from 1624 to 1630 as a seat of the Imperial generalissimo, Admiral of the Atlantic Ocean and the Baltic Sea, Albrecht Eusebius of Valdstein (Wallenstein) who was one of the most important figures of the Thirty Year's War. Apart from being famous as a very influential soldier (Commander-in-Chief of the Imperial Army), Wallenstein is also known for his belief in the influence of the stars. It is a very interesting experience to read personal characterization of Wallenstein in the horoscope written for him personally by Johannes Kepler. This link is not the only one which connects Wallenstein Palace with astronomy and physics: inside the Palace there is the astronomical-astrological corridor with allegories of seven planets, the leading architect who designed the Wallenstein Palace and its Sala Terrena in the huge Baroque garden was Italian Giovanni Battisto Pieronni, a student of Galileo Galilei. When designing the huge palace complex of the Wallenstein Palace, Pieronni (together with two other Italian architects A. Spezza and N. Sebregondi) combined elements of the Late Renaissance with those of the Early Baroque. He also hired the most renowned artists to participate on the art works and decoration of the palace. This resulted in the first Baroque palace complex in Prague which became a really representative and up to date as for fashion seat of Albrecht Wallenstein. By this palace the idea of Wallenstein to express his power and glory by building a magnificent palace whose size and decoration even surpassed those of the Prague Castle, was fulfilled.

To imagine the size of the Wallenstein Palace we can remind the fact that Wallenstein purchased twenty three houses, three gardens and the municipal brick-kiln to gain the place for his palace. The palace complex has a perimeter of almost 750 meters. It is completely separated from the outside world by walls and concentrated around a landscaped garden and five courtyards. The huge garden is famous for its monumental Baroque Sala Terrena with three open arches as well as for a number of bronze statues of ancient gods by Adriano de Vries. As for the Palace rooms, the most famous place there is the Main Hall. This hall reaches to the height of two floors and its dimensions are further enlarged optically by mirror windows.

The Wallenstein Palace is nowadays the seat of the Senate of the Parliament of the Czech Republic. It is therefore only very exceptionally open for public events. These events must be approved by a committee of the Senate. The FQMT08 conference is very fortunate to receive the support from the Senate and the possibility to use a part of the Wallenstein Palace for its activities.

Participants of FQMT08 conference will have a really exceptional chance to spend some time in the Wallenstein Palace garden. This could be an interesting experience for all participants and their partners since FQMT08 participants will have an exceptional opportunity to enjoy the large Baroque garden of the Wallenstein Palace with its nice Sala Terrena for discussions during the Monday evening welcome party. There is also a good chance (this will depend on the program of the Senate of the Czech Republic) that it will be possible to organize the guided tour through the whole huge Baroque complex of the Wallenstein Palace. This would be an exceptional experience by itself since it is difficult to see all these places under ordinary circumstances.

You can also look at the multimedia presentation of the Wallenstein Palace .

How to get there:
The entrance to the Wallenstein Palace is from the Wallenstein Square (Valdštejnské náměstí) which you can reach within five minutes walk either from tram and underground station Malostranská or from tram station on the Lesser Town Square (Malostranské náměstí) - see map of the Wallenstein Palace neighborhood.
Special tram will depart from the Pyramida Hotel to the Malostranská stop on Monday afternoon to facilitate FQMT08 participants transfer. Exact departure time will be announced during the Conference.
Stops Malostranská or Malostranské náměstí can also be reached from the Pyramida Hotel by trams No 22, 23 (5th or 6th stop).
Alternatively, you can get to the Wallenstein Palace directly from the Pyramida Hotel within 30-40 minutes of a nice walk - see maps Pyramida Hotel neighborhood and Wallenstein Palace neighborhood .

St. Simon and Juda church (Kostel sv. Šimona a Judy) was built by the Czech Bretheren between 1615 and 1620. After the battle of the White Mountain (1620) the Bretheren were expelled from the Czech lands, the church was given to a catholic order, the brothers of Mercy and it became part of a monastery and hospital. The first anatomy lecture hall in Prague was established here in 18th century. Rebuilt monastery complex continues to serve as a hospital. Church Baroque facade and interior decoration are of 18th century. By its entrance there is a pieta from 16th century. The main altar of the church is the work of Josef Hager from 1773 and it contains painting of St. Simon and Juda from well known painter Václav Vavřinec Rainer. The organ is decorated with sculptures by famous Prague Baroque sculptor J. Brokoff and was played by J. Haydn and W. A. Mozart. Nowadays, St. Simon and Juda church is the concert hall of Prague Symphonic orchestra FOK. .

How to get there:
Special tram will depart from the Pyramida Hotel to the Právnická fakulta tram stop on Wednesday afternoon to facilitate FQMT08 participants transfer. Exact departure time will be announced during the Conference.
>From the Právnická fakulta stop you can reach in few minutes (by streets of the Jewish Town):
1. the Kozička Bar to enjoy a refreshment before the public lecture of Marlan Scully (from Kozička Bar the way to the Church takes about 5 minutes)
or
2. directly the St. Simon and Juda Church.
For both cases - see map St. Simon and Juda Church neighborhood.
For those who will use an individual transfer: The best way from the Pyramida Hotel is first to reach the Malostranská station by trams 22 or 23. From this station you can cross on foot, within 5-10 minutes, the Vltava River using the Mánesův most (Mánes Bridge). Alternatively, the River can be crossed by tram No 18 or by underground (metro) line A (from Malostranská to Stroměstská stops). From the region of the Staroměstská Metro station you will reach either the Kozička Bar or directly the St. Simon and Juda Church by walk within 10-15 minutes. If you wish to omit the refreshment in the Kozička Bar, you can ride one stop by tram No 17 along the right bank of the River (from Staroměstská to Právnická fakulta stops) - see the map.

It was founded as the first monastery in Bohemia by Prince Boleslav II and Saint Adalbert (Vojtěch) of the Slavnik dynasty, Bishop of Prague already in 993 AD. The monastery was built amidst forests, at the source of the Brusnice river and on a road leading westwards from Prague. For centuries there was only a small settlement around the monastery which was later on surrounded by farms. This Benedictine monastery, however, played the decisive role for the spreading of culture and art in Czech lands.

The original monastery has been rebuilt many times. Its oldest parts date from the 10th century. In 1964 the Pre-romanesque crypt (open nowadays to the public) of the original 10th century church was discovered below the choir of the present St. Margaret church. Neither the Romanesque nor the Gothic buildings of the monastery survived. >From the 15th century on, the monastery was in a state of poverty for three centuries. During 18th century it was largely rebuilt in the Baroque style.

Most of monastery present day buildings are dated from 1708 to 1745 and were built in Baroque style by Christoph Dientzenhofer. The same architect also erected as a part of monastery complex the Church of St. Margaret, which is considered to be one of the most remarkable works of Czech Baroque architecture. The presbytery of the church was built by Christoph's son, Kilian Ignaz Dientzenhofer, architect of many important Baroque churches and palaces of Prague. The altarpieces are the work of Peter Brandl, one of the best Czech painters of high Baroque era.

The interiors of Břevnov monastery are decorated by valuable paintings, e.g. in the former ceremonial hall of the monastery, nowadays called Theresian Hall, there is a ceiling painting the Miracle of the Blessed Gunther painted by Kosmas Damian Asam of Bavaria in 1727. This is one of the best preserved ceiling paintings in Prague.

The entrance to the monastery is through the ornamented main gateway built by Kilian Ignaz Dientzenhofer in 1740 and decorated with a statue of St. Benedictine. The main building of the monastery complex can be reached then by crossing a large courtyard.

Behind the monastery is situated its large Baroque garden. At its gate is a nice Baroque pavilion called Vojtěška with a chapel above a well which marks the spot where Prince Boleslav and Bishop Vojtěch are supposed to have met and decided to built the Břevnov monastery.
You can see some photographs of the monastery and read a little more about its history here .

How to get there:
The Břevnov Monastery is situated in the street Patočkova not far (about 1500 m) from the Pyramida Hotel - you can reach it (see also maps Prague Castle neighborhood and Pyramida Hotel neighborhood):
1. either by about 30 minutes walk along the Bělohorská street (the main street where the Pyramida Hotel is situated) going up to its crossroad with Patočkova street, near of which you see the monastery,
2. or by going trams No 22, 23 or 36 (4th stop, about 5 minutes) along Bělohorská street from the stop Malovanka to the stop Břevnovský klášter, from where you can reach the monastery within 3 minutes walk.