Once upon a time....

"Consider, for example, the national sport, which is tossing people from high windows. Okay, ‘sport’ might be a bit flippant, but politics in Prague has seen its fair share of assisted high diving on to pavements over the years. In fact if it becomes an Olympic sport, get your bet on now because the Czechs are near certainties.
And if you consider that to be somewhat macabre, then consider for a moment the events of June 21, 1621, in Old Prague Town Square, where 27 noblemen who had dared question the ironfisted Catholic rule of the Hapsburgs were brought to their fate. Watched by dignitaries from a specially built grandstand, and the plebs in standing room, they were brought one by one to the executioner.

In a sick joke, the first was spared by last-minute proclamation from the Pope. Lucky bloke. Or maybe not quite so lucky, as his tongue was then nailed to a post to ensure he could not turn his head away from watching the fate of his colleagues, who one by one hoped for Papal reprieve only to be disappointed ... and then beheaded.
The executions went on for an hour and the square ran red with blood. Today, 27 white cobblestone crosses mark the site, though they are little noticed by the hordes of tourists who crowd the Old Town, which itself is partially hidden behind literally hundreds of stalls selling tourist tat, including plastic tongues pierced by nails (Okay, I made that last bit up, there were no tongues)."

From "Prague: A place of haunting beauty" http://www.bendigoweekly.com.au

More information can be found at http://www.prague.cz/old-town-square/ and http://www.waymarking.com