As it happened, he had mythical spymaster Jim Phelps offed on Charles Bridge.

These days ... not much has changed.

The lack of a coherent policy for the use of the Czech Republic's most cherished heritage sites and public spaces is bound to lead to confusion and worse. Those with influence in the right places will get exclusive access when desired, just as they always have, and the notion of public trust will be left to philosophers.

Ordinary Czech citizens aside (and most officials in this country are all too happy to consider them a side issue), millions come to Prague from far-flung corners of the world with the dream of doing something many here consider quite ordinary: walking across Charles Bridge on some moonlit night.

For anyone who's ever done that (best attempted at 3 a.m. in January if you enjoy your privacy), it's an experience that stays with you. That's because strolling in the footsteps of Charles IV along his coronation route is a way to do something more than sightseeing. It's a way to live a piece of Prague and a piece of its history. A key piece.

For the millions who will never get to the city, there isn't a thing wrong with letting them have the virtual experience of seeing its icons, whether they be Charles Bridge, Prague Castle or just an old beer hall, on screen. In fact, many cities would trade their town halls for the chance to be such a bankable star that a world-class fashion house would happily pay the price of a top-end Lexus in order to use a few hundred feet of a downtown walkway for four days.

But when a well-connected bidder who's eager to impress a celebrity proposes shutting the public out in order to make a city icon into a private VIP party, it's understandable that those who prize the city's beauty should be outraged.

Prague these days is chock-full of incredible venues available for rent to the highest bidder. For the right price, you can party among the tombs in the National Memorial at Vítkov or have the Vladislav Hall at Prague Castle, where Václav Havel was sworn in, all to yourself.

But for those who really want to impress, as Louis Vuitton does, clearly the thing to do is hire a phalanx of guards and shove the public into a narrow gauntlet to make a Prague icon your very own party palace. And when a star guest like Madonna is on the premises, why not shut the bothersome public out entirely?

"All power is a trust," wrote Benjamin Disraeli in the 19th century, adding, "We are accountable for its exercise."

Those who administer the national treasures of the Czech Republic have been granted considerable power. Whether or not they choose to look after the public's access to those treasures will depend on what the public settles for.