Faust House/Faustuv dum

Description:

• Long before mysteries and legends enveloped this house, it saw pagan sacrifices to the dark goddess Morana. Later, a long line of eccentric tenants and inexplicable happenings contributed to an increasingly bizarre mythology. Built as a gothic palace in the latter of 14th century, it belonged to Prince Vaclav of Opava, the first of many alchemists and natural scientists who made their homes here. Allegedly, the doctor Johannes Faust stayed there at that time. His books of black magic are said to have been found much later by a poor student who took shelter there. Those same books led to that student's strange disappearance. By 1434 the house found itself without an owner and slowly crumbling to the ground. Eventually, though, Jakub Krucinek took up residence there with two sons. There was supposedly a great treasure hidden in the house, so great that the younger son killed his older brother for it. Edward Kelley, the court alchemist of Rudolph II, then lived in this strange and dark place. It is said that he performed impressive alchemy using a "philosophical stone." Eventually, Kelley was imprisoned for murdering a man. There, he was brutally tortured for his secret. He never told. Years later, Ferdinand Antonin Mladota of Solopysky's chemical experiments incited nervous gossip among his neighbors. His son kept up his work, astounding his visitors with automated mechanics, something like that eerie piano that plays out suspenseful music with no pianist. In the 19th century, Karl Jaenig moved in. Obsessed with death, he painted the walls with funeral texts and had parts of gallows displayed in his home. According to lore, he even slept in a coffin. In the 20th century, the house has burned several times without explanation. Walled up cat skeletons found in the basement and the appearance of strange alchemist symbols on the walls have helped to keep up the house's mystique. Furthermore, in 1945, a bomb ripped open its roof right through to the cellar but didn't explode. The hole it left is said to be the same hole Faust was brought through in the original tale. Nowadays, the building belongs to the Faculty of Medicine of the Charles University in Prague.