Prague Castle is an incredible place.

There's no question that "Charles IV — Emperor by the Grace of God" is a world-class event (and one you will find impossible to get into, thanks to the castle's refusal to extend the show). But even when there aren't global heavyweights showing off the glories of Bohemia's greatest king and emperor, it turns out there are still thrills to be had in Hradčany.

The recently opened permanent exhibition "Life at Prague Castle," installed on the underground level of the Old Royal Palace, can compete with anything the British Museum or the Smithsonian has to offer. It's filled with gorgeously displayed, cleverly curated multimedia attractions, including a chilling discovery made by archeologists during the course of castle expansions: In pagan times, human beings were buried on what is now the castle grounds with their hands bound and stones weighing them down for fear they would rise from their graves.

In another part of the exhibit, amid cases of royal glassware showing incredible craftwork, an orgy is depicted of nude bathers feasting on roast meats. Adding to the effect, hidden stereo speakers emanate the sounds of slurping and clinking dishes.

Fabulous royal robes and 3-D interactive computer models of Hradčany fill other corners, and there's a game for children who get points for visiting as many of the displays as they can. Visitors on a recent weekend were eating it up.

Where can you find out about all this?

Not on the Prague Castle Web site, certainly (old.hrad.cz). If this show is mentioned anywhere here, no mere journalist trained in Web research can find it in 20 minutes of searching.

One thing you will hear about now is the current debacle with another Czech treasure no one had much faith in: The justly famous traveling show "Charles IV — Emperor by the Grace of God." After winning raves from even jaded New Yorkers last year (170,000 of them), the show, co-organized by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, has finally landed in Prague. With seven years and $1.6 million (38 million Kč) invested in this collection of 216 objects from collections around the world, Czechs are not likely to see such a collection of artifacts from the time of the Golden Age emperor again in their lifetimes.

In fact, they're not likely to see it at all.

OK, so someone panicked and sold all the tickets to school children at a fifth of their already low 270 Kč price. Not the brightest move ever made in the history of marketing, but not a fatal error — besides, thousands of students getting to experience something like this at subsidized rates can only be a good thing.

But to lock out everyone else, including not just Czechs who have traveled from every corner of the country, but tourists who would happily pay twice the existing price? When so many parts of Prague Castle are sorely in need of funds for refurbishing and improved presentation as well? Incredibly for a thriving, Westernized city, its iconic symbol still features many rooms with only badly photocopied black-and-white engravings mounted under dusty plexiglass with boring displays (those in Russian have been around so long they may actually be useful again, what with the city's changing demographics).