If you continue east down Jiřská, which runs parallel with Zlatá ulička, you'll come to the courtyard of the former Purkrabství (Burgrave's House) on the left, which hides a café, exhibition space and Muzeum hraček daily 9.30am–5.30pm). With brief, Czech-only captions and unimaginative displays, this is a disappointing venture, which fails to live up to its potential. The succession of glass cabinets contains an impressive array of toy cars, robots and even Barbie dolls, but there are too few buttons for younger kids to press, and unless you're really lost for something to do, you could happily skip the whole enterprise.

The hotchpotch historical collection in the Lobkovický palác (Tues– Sun 9am–5pm; www.nm.cz), on the opposite side of Jiřská, is marginally more rewarding, despite the ropey English text provided. The exhibition actually begins on the top floor, but by no means all the objects on display deserve attention. The prize exhibits are replicas of the Bohemian crown jewels, an interesting sixteenth-century carving of The Last Supper, originally an altarpiece from the Bethlehem Chapel, and the sword (and invoice) of the famous Prague executioner Jan Mydlář, who could lop a man's head off with just one chop, as he demonstrated on 24 Protestant Czechs in 1621 (Betlémské náměstí).