When Charles IV. first arrived at Prague he found the Royal castle, as he himself noted, 'deserted, ruined, almost levelled to the ground.' He was indeed at first obliged to accept the hospitality of a citizen of the old town. Charles, who delighted in building, and particularly in adorning his favourite city, Prague, immediately decided to rebuild the castle. He is said to have resolved to imitate the Louvres Palace, as he had seen it in Paris. In consequence of the many civil wars, hardly any traces of Charles's castle, of which the old writers have given a most striking description, can now be found. Charles strongly fortified his castle in the direction of the Malá Strana. The steep access to the Hradcany in that direction is a remnant of these fortifications. During the Hussite Wars the castle was used as a fortress, and it suffered greatly during those wars. The castle was greatly injured during the two sieges (1420 and 1421), when Sigismund's troops were here besieged by the Praguers, but its fate was far worse after Sigismund's troops had been forced to capitulate. The citizens rushed into the castle resolved to entirely demolish the stronghold of the hated King Sigismund. The town magistrates and the nobles, allied with the Praguers, succeeded indeed in averting the complete destruction of the time-honoured castle, but it was greatly damaged. After the end of the Hussite War, Sigismund, during his short reign, undertook some repairs, but the castle remained uninhabited. The Bohemian Kings, since the time of Wenceslas, resided in the old town on the right bank of the Vltava. This continued up to the reign of Vladislav II. That King, who resided in the buildings known as the Kraluv Dvur, near the powder tower, intimidated by the menaces of his turbulent neighbours, the citizens of the old town, resolved to transfer his residence to the left bank of the Vltava. He crossed the river in a boat at night-time, and sought refuge behind the strong walls of the dilapidated Hradcany, and began to build there a new Royal residence. Some of the oldest parts of the existent building date from his time. Large additions were made by Ferdinand I., Matthias and Rudolph. Rudolph, like Charles IV., chose Prague as his permanent residence, and he is the last King of Bohemia who lived continuously in his capital. His artistic and scientific tastes, to which reference has already been made, caused him to feel a great desire for solitude. He generally lived in the north wing of the castle, where he established an observatory and vast laboratories for chemical research. On the other hand, he appears to have neglected the portion of the castle that had been built by Vladislav II. He even allowed the far-famed hall of Vladislav to be turned into a 'bazaar where various tradesmen exhibited their wares and met to discuss their business.' Sadeler's engraving--reproduced in this volume--gives a good idea of the appearance of Vladislav's hall at this period.