Saints peek out from alleys. Angels fleck the skyline. In stone and marble, God's mysteries reside in this city's architecture. But try finding him in the sceptical Czech soul.
"People don't know about God anymore," said Olga Kopecka-Valeska, a writer and former broadcaster. "They don't know what Christmas is about. They are lost in art galleries when they see paintings of Jesus Christ. One girl looked at a picture of the Crucifixion and asked, 'Who did that to him?' Her friend responded, 'the Communists'."
Recalcitrant and suspicious, Czechs are not entirely godless. They just don't care for organised religion. Unlike its neighbour Poland, where Roman Catholicism and nationalism are inseparable, the Czech Republic never forged its identity around a church. Many Czechs view Catholicism - the predominant faith - as a centuries-old oppressor muffled by Communism and then further diminished by capitalism.
Stir in a little anti-authority surrealism from Franz Kafka and a bit of musing by absurdist playwright and former president Vaclav Havel, and it becomes even more apparent that the spiritual landscape in this nation of 10.2 million is not one of stained-glass sanctity.
"There's a hostility towards what religion did to them in the past," said Lawrence Cada, a Marianist brother from Cleveland on a scouting mission to determine whether the Catholic order should expand here.
"The Czechs say they're the most atheist country in Europe, and they say it with some pride . . . This is how Western civilisation may look in 50 years, because people here believe they live a full life without any religion."
A poll by the European Values Study, a Netherlands-based organisation that tracks religious and moral attitudes, found fewer Czechs claim allegiance to organised religion than any other people in Europe except Estonians, who are still trying to move beyond their Soviet past. Only 33.6 per cent of Czechs belong to a religious denomination and only 11.7 per cent attend services monthly or more often.
The Catholic Church in the Czech Republic has about 3 million followers and the next largest, the Evangelical Church of Czech Brethren, about 200,000.
"I don't have confidence in the church. What can it do for me?" said Daniel Petrzilka, an internet programmer.
"I don't need a church for God," he added. "I believe in bits and pieces of different religions. I believe in reincarnation, Christmas and nature. It's more liberalised."
The Catholic Church is not reaching hundreds of thousands of young people such as Mr Petrzilka. The average age of priests is 67, and only 50 per cent of the country's 3000 parishes have clergy in residence.
The appeal of Pope John Paul II has also declined: In 1990, 300,000 Czechs attended the Pope's Mass; fewer than 100,000 turned out seven years later.
Historically, Czechs came to regard the Catholic Church as a proxy for the Austrian Hapsburgs who crushed their rebellions. When the Hapsburg Empire collapsed after World War I, an anti-Catholic backlash swept the nation, though this was eventually overshadowed by World War II and 40 years of Soviet domination.
"After all that history," said Jirina Siklova, a sociologist and former dissident, "the Czechs are in the midst of a spiritual and moral hangover."
Pavel Rican, a religion professor at Prague's Charles University, believes such torpor permeates Europe. "I see empty churches in Germany and the Netherlands," he said. "This is a European trend. I'm interested in what comes after. The French philosopher Voltaire was in search of the 'new sacred'. The 'old sacred' has vanished."
Moored neither to religious fervor nor national pride, the Czech present, according to many here, is adrift. There is a sense of emptiness, but not despair. Brooding is leavened with satirical humour. One minister said the Czechs have pedestals, but they're searching for ideals to place upon them.
Ms Kopecka-Valeska, who lost her job as a religious programmer with Radio Free Europe when the US Government cut funding last year, is perplexed and troubled by the state of things.
"What's lacking here is the aura of Christian morals," she said. "People have forgotten that right and wrong stem from Christianity.
"People cheat on their employers. They cheat on each other. The egoism is unbelievable. It's me, me, me."
GOING FOR GOD
The countries bordering the Czech Republic are more attentive to their deity.
• Nearly 96 per cent of Poles belong to a religion and 78 per cent attend services regularly.
• The numbers for Germany are 77 per cent and 30 per cent; for Austria, 88 per cent and 42.5 per cent.
• For Slovakia, which with the Czech Republic once formed Czechoslovakia, the statistics are 76.8 per cent and 50 per cent.
• Only 33.6 per cent of Czechs belong to a religious denomination and only 11.7 per cent attend services once a month or more often.