The actual residence of Czech princes and kings was the Old Royal Palace, located in the corner of the third courtyard by the former southern wall. Around 1135 Prince Soběslav had the oldest, probably wooden building replaced by a Romanesque palatial building, spectacular at that time. Some sections of it have been preserved to this day: two floors with a 50m long hall and princely apartments, part of the accoupled windows and the bottom section of the so-called Southern T ower by a gate that was lost later. Soběslav's palace was significantly reconstructed by Charles IV, although hardly anything has survived from this construction activity - most of the Gothic buildings were lost during the subsequent late Gothic and Renaissance reconstructions. Vladislav Hall (Vladislavský sál) built between 1492 and 1502 is the largest secular space of the medieval Prague and the most beautiful late Gothic hall in central Europe. It is 62 m long, 16 m wide and 13 m high, topped with a stellar ribbed vault with intertwined curved ribs, which stretches
aeross the whole second floor of the palace. The Srn high rectangular windows, dating frorn 1493, mark the first appearanee of Renaissance style in Bohernia. Since middle century the hall has been used far various ceremonial meetings, even tournaments were held there. As their participants had to get there in full arrnour and rnounted, access was provided by rneans of the so-called equestrian staircase with unusually long and low steps. Among other exceptional seetions of the palaee there is the ariginal courtroom frorn the 14th century cal led the Green Charnber (Zelená světnice), late Gothic rooms of the State Boards Archive (Archiv zemských desek), Vladislav's bedrooms dating from around 1486, the so-called Louis's Wing (Ludvíkovo křídlo), built by Benedikt Ried completely in Renaissance style between 1520 and 1530, a Renaissance hall of the Czech Chancellery (Česká kancelář) with an ornamental partal, which was the scene of the farnous defenestration in 1618, and Imperial Court Council Hall (síň říšské dvorské rady), where on 19 Iune 1621 the 27 leaders of the rebellion of the estates received their death sentence. The Old Assembly (Stará sněmovna) was built during the reign of king Wenceslas IV after 1385 and rebuilt in late Gothic style and then again in Renaissanee style after the fire in 1541, when it was given a reticulated vault with intertwined curved ribs. The New State Boards Chancellery (kancelář Nových zemských desek) has decoration of aristocratie coat-of-arms.