Climb the 186 steps to the observation platform three quarters of the way up Prague’s Powder Tower, and it’s easy to see how the Czech capital came to be known as the City of a Hundred Spires. The view east along Celetná Street—part of the Royal Way, or traditional coronation route of Bohemian kings—leads the eye toward the city’s medieval center, where the twin spired steeples of the Church of Our Lady before Týn stand across the cobbled town square from the Gothic tower of the Old Town Hall and its famous 600-yearold astronomical clock. “Prague is a beautiful and unforgettable place with wonderful people and a unique European atmosphere,” says Russian illustrator Eugene Zando, who sketched this scene after a 2014 visit. “You’ll want to return again and again to explore its various aspects, be that catching a classic performance at the National Theatre, strolling the Golden Lane, or taking the funicular up to the top of Petřin Hill—which you can see here in the background—for even more expansive views of the city.”