The Pierced Heart

The Baroque Michna summerhouse called Amerika, built by K. I. Dientzenhofer in a garden beside Ke Karlovu Street, now the Antonín Dvořák Museum, supposedly held a Masonic lodge at the beginning of the previous century. According to legend, a Freemason’s wife came to ask the grand master to release her husband from the order. After much hesitation, the master showed her a book with a member’s name on each page and a golden needle between every two leaves. He told her to pierce the heart drawn beneath her husband’s name, after which he would cease to be a Mason. When she did so, a drop of blood spurted from the drawn heart. Returning home, she found her husband dead, his heart pierced by a golden needle. Královské Vinohrady.