Trespassing at Prague Castle: Man Climbed the Gate of Giants and Attempted to Bite a Soldier

On Saturday, a live broadcast from Prague Castle, filmed by Czech guides for viewers abroad, escalated into watching an agile man who decided to climb to the main entrance gate of the castle.

The man scaled the Gate of the Giants, which was guarded by soldiers, and jumped right into the courtyard.

“Why is the gate closed?” The man shouted before deciding to follow through with this stunt. Jan Pechač from the lucytours.com agency was giving a private virtual tour of the castle and recorded footage of the incident.

According to Pechač, the soldiers immediately urged him to get down. However, he decided to climb right up and approach them in the courtyard, where he was detained.

“It happened at a time when we were broadcasting for clients from Canada and doing an hour-long private virtual tour for them,” Jan Pechač told Blesk.cz.

TV Nova also obtained a statement from a spokesman for the Castle Guard named Jiří Havel. Havel confirmed that the incident did take place on Saturday shortly before half-past four in the afternoon.

“A middle-aged man approached the Giants’ Gate, who then began to climb the pillar to one of the statues. He was asked by the guards to stop. He did not respond to the calls and climbed up to the statue,” Havel described.

Four years in prison

“After spending some time at the statue, he jumped into the guarded 1st courtyard of Prague Castle. Here he was detained by a guard and summoned by a group of soldiers from the Castle Guard, “Havel added.

See how a man climbed the Giant’s Gate:

According to TV Nova, he even attempted to bite a soldier during the apprehension. The military police are also dealing with the case.

“The criminal service of the military police has initiated criminal proceedings on suspicion of committing the crime of violence against an official,” said military police spokeswoman Nikola Rimkevič Hájková.

The suspect may face four years in prison.