Prague

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For other uses, see Prague (disambiguation)}}}.

Nicknames for Prague have included "city of a hundred spires" and "the golden city". Since 1992, the historic center of Prague has been included in the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites.

History

The area on which Prague was founded has been settled since the Paleolithic Age. Around 200 BC the Celts had a settlement in the south called Závist, but later they were replaced (either expelled or assimilated) by Germanics. The Slavs conquered the site from the 4th century AD onwards, though for a period they were subdued by the Mongolian Avars.

According to legend, Prague was founded by the Princess Libuše and her husband, Přemysl, founder of the dynasty with the same name. Whether this legend is true or not, Prague's first nucleus was founded in the latter part of the 9th century as a castle on a hill commanding the right bank of the Vltava: this is known as Vyšehrad ("high castle") to differentiate from the castle which was later erected on the opposite bank, the future Hradčany. Soon the city became the seat of the Kings of Bohemia, some of whom also later reigned as emperors of the Holy Roman Empire. It was an important seat for trading where merchants coming from all Europe settled, including many Jews, as recalled by the Jewish merchant and traveler Ibrahim ibn Ya'qub in 965. The city became a bishopric in 973.

Bridges of Prague.

Prague Castle at night.

St. Vitus Cathedral.

The Astronomical Clock

King Vladislav II had the first bridge on the Vltava — the Judith Bridge — built in 1170, though it crumbled in 1342. The Charles Bridge was later built on its foundations.

In 1257, under King Otakar II, Malá Strana ("Lesser Quarter") was founded in Prague in the future Hradčany area as the district of the Germans, who had the right to administer the law autonomously, referring to the Magdeburg legislation. The new district was on the opposite bank to the Staré Město ("Old Town"), which had then borough status and was defended by a line of walls on fortifications.

The city flourished during the 14th century reign of Charles IV, of the new Luxembourg dynasty. He ordered the building of the New Town (Nové Město) adjacent to the Old Town. The Charles Bridge was erected to connect the new district to Malá Strana. Monuments by Charles include also Saint Vitus Cathedral, the oldest Gothic cathedral in central Europe inside the Castle, and the Charles University. The latter is the oldest university in central Europe. Prague was then the third-largest city in Europe. Under Charles Prague was the capital of the Holy Roman Empire, and its rank was elevated to that of archbishopric. It had also a mint and German and Italian merchants, as well as bankers, in the city. The social order, however, became more turbulent owing to the rising power of the craftsmen's guild, themselves often torn by internal fights, and the presence of increasing number of poor people.^{[[Citing sources citation needed]]}

Under King Wenceslas IV — Václav IV — (1378–1419) Jan Hus, a theologian and lector at the University, held his sermons in Prague. From 1402 he summoned his followers to the Bethlehem Chapel, speaking in Czech to enlarge as much as possible the diffusion of his ideas about the reformation of the church. Having become too dangerous for the political and religious establishment, Hus was burned in Constance in 1415. Four years later Prague experienced its first defenestration, when the people rebelled under the command of the Prague priest Jan Želivský and threw the city's counselors from the New Town Hall. Hus's death had spurred the so-called Hussite revolt. In 1420 peasant rebels, led by the famous general Jan Žižka, along with Hussite troops from Prague, defeated the Bohemian King Sigismund (Zikmund, son of Charles IV), in the Battle of Vítkov Mountain.

In the following two centuries Prague strengthened its role as a merchant city. Many noteworthy Gothic buildings were erected, including the Vladislav Hall in the Hradčany.

In 1526 the Kingdom of Bohemia was handed over to the House of Habsburg. The fervent Catholicism of its members was to have grevious consequences in Bohemia, and then in Prague, where Protestant ideas instead had increasing popularity. These problems were not preeminent under Emperor Rudolf II, elected King of Bohemia in 1576, who chose Prague as his home. He lived in the Castle where he held his bizarre courts of astrologers, magicians and other strange figures. This was a prosperous period for the city: famous people living there in that age included the astronomers Tycho Brahe and Johann Kepler, the painter Arcimboldo and others.

In 1618 the famous Defenestration of Prague provoked the Thirty Years' War. Ferdinand II of Habsburg was deposed, and his place as King of Bohemia taken by Frederick V of Pfalz. But the Czech army was crushed in the Battle of the White Mountain (1620), not far from the city, and thenceforth Prague and Bohemia encountered a harsh period in which religious tolerance was abolished and the Catholic Counter-Reformation became dominant in every aspect of life. The city suffered also under Saxon (1631) and Swedish (1648) occupation. Moreover, after the Peace of Westphalia of the latter year, Ferdinand moved the court to Vienna, and Prague began a steady decline which reduced the population from the 60,000 it had had in the years before the war to 20,000.

The 17th century is considered the Golden Age of Jewish Prague. The Jewish community of Prague numbered some 15,000 souls (approx. 30 per cent of the entire population), making it the largest Ashkenazic community in the world and the second largest community in Europe after Thessaloniki. In the years 1597 to 1609, the Maharal (Judah Loew ben Bezalel) served as Prague´s chief rabbi. He is considered the greatest of Jewish scholars in Prague´s history, his tomb at the Old Jewish Cemetery eventually becoming a pilgrimage site. The expulsion of Jews from Prague by Maria Theresa of Austria in 1745 based on their alleged collaboration with the Prussian army was a severe blow to the flourishing Jewish community. The queen allowed the Jews to return to the city in 1748. In 1848 the gates of the Prague ghetto were opened. The former Jewish quarter, renamed Josefov in 1850, was demolished during the "ghetto clearance" (Czech: Asanace) on the turn of the 19th to the 20th century.

In 1689 a great fire devastated Prague, but this spurred a renovation and a rebuilding of the city. The economic rise continued through the following century, and the city in 1771 had 80,000 inhabitants. Many of these were rich merchants who, together with noblemen of German, Spanish and even Italian origin, enriched the city with a host of palaces, churches and gardens, creating a Baroque style renowned throughout the world. In 1784, under Joseph II, the four municipalities of Malá Strana, Nové Město, Staré Město and Hradčany were merged into a single entity. The Jewish district, called Josefov, was included only in 1850. The Industrial Revolution had a strong effect in Prague, as factories could take advantage of the coalmines and ironworks of the nearby region. A first suburb, Karlín, was created in 1817, and twenty years later the population exceeded 100,000. The first railway connection was built in 1842.

The revolutions that shocked all Europe around 1848 touched Prague too, but they were fiercely suppressed. In the following years the Czech nationalist movement (opposed to another nationalist party, the German one) began its rise, until it gained the majority in the Town Council in 1861.

World War I ended with the defeat of Austria-Hungary and the creation of Czechoslovakia. Prague was chosen as its capital. At this time Prague was a true European capital with a very developed industrial base. In 1930 the population had risen to a startling 850,000.

For most of its history Prague had been a multiethnic city with important Czech, German, and Jewish populations. From 1939, when the country was occupied by Nazi Germany, and during World War II, most Jews either fled the city or were killed in the Holocaust. Most of the Jews living in Prague after the war emigrated in the years of Communism, particularly after the communist coup / the establishment of Israel in 1948 and the Soviet invasion in 1968. In the early 1990s, the Jewish Community in Prague numbered only 800 people compared to nearly 50,000 before the World War II. In 2006, some 1,600 people were registered in the Jewish Community. The German population, which had formed the majority of the city's inhabitants until the 19th century, was expelled or fled in the aftermath of the war. Prague's Czech people had revolted against the Nazi occupants as early as May 5, 1945, and four days later the Soviet army entered the city. Meanwhile, massacres against the German minority occurred in revenge of German cruelties. German schools were attacked and even ethnic German children were hanged and burned alive in the squares of Prague in acts of revenge.[link] Later, when Czech nationalist and communist milicians were ever more ordered by the Czechoslovak government to subject themselves to government rule, the revenge acts decreased. [link] The large German minority was either murdered or deported to West Germany in cattle coaches by rail. Prague was henceforth the capital of a Communist Republic under the military and political control of the Soviet Union, and in 1955 it entered the Warsaw Pact.

The always lively intellectual world of Prague, however, suffered under the totalitarian regime, in spite of the rather careful program of rebuilding of and caring for the damaged monuments after World War II. At the 4th Czechoslovakian Writers' Congress held in the city in 1967 a strong position against the regime was taken. This spurred the new secretary of Communist Party, Alexander Dubček to proclaim a new deal in his city's and country's life, starting the short-lived season of the "socialism with a human face". It was the Prague Spring, which aimed at democratic reform of institutions. The Soviet Union and the rest of the Warsaw Pact reacted, occupying Czechoslovakia and the capital in August 1968, suppressing under tanks' tracks any attempt of renovation.

In 1989, after the Berlin Wall had fallen, and the Velvet Revolution crowded the streets of Prague, Czechoslovakia finally freed itself from communism and soviet influence, and Prague benefited deeply from the new mood. In 1993, after the split of Czechoslovakia, Prague became capital city of the new Czech Republic.

Timeline of most important moments of Prague history

Týn Church - a view from east.

• 870   Prague Castle founded
• 1085 Prague became the seat of kings - 1st king Vratislaus II.
• 1344 the Prague Bishopric became an Archdiocese
• 1346 the rule of Charles IV. - Prague capital of Holy Roman Empire
• 1348 University of Prague (Charles University) founded
• 1378 Jan Hus´s reformations
• 1419 1st Prague defenestration
• 1420 battle on Vítkov Mountain - Hussites win over crusaders
• 1583 rule of Rudolf II - city for the 2nd time the capital of Holy Roman Empire and cultural center of Europe
• 1618 2nd Prague defenestration sparked off the Thirty Years' War
• 1621 execution of 27 Czech lords on the Old Town Square as a consequence of the Battle of White Mountain
• 1648 west bank of Prague (including the Prague Castle) occupied and looted by Swedish armies
• 1741 occupation by French-Bavarian armies
• 1744 occupation by Prussian armies
• 1848 revolutionary uprising crushed by imperial army
• 1890 big flood caused extreme damage
• 1918 after World War I Prague became the capital of Czechoslovakia
• 1938 after political betrayal of allies (France and Britain at Munich) Germany occupied Sudetenland and in 1939 the whole country
• 1942 Czechoslovak paratroopers kill Reinhard Heydrich, Nazis respond with wave of terror
• 1945 U.S. Air Force conducts Bombing of Prague in World War II, killing hundreds of Praguers by mistake. (Target was Dresden, 134 km away).
• 1945 uprising against the Nazis during the last days of World War II, ended with the arrival of the Red Army.
• 1948 communist takeover of power
• 1968 Soviet army invasion to repress the Prague Spring
• 1989 Prague is the main center of Velvet Revolution (the fall of communist regime)
• 2000 Anti-globalization Protests in Prague (some 15,000 protesters) turned violent during the IMF and World Bank summits
• 2002 Prague suffers from flooding, parts of the city evacuated but no major landmarks destroyed

Sights

• Old Town (Staré Město) with its Old Town Square
• The Astronomical Clock
• The picturesque Charles Bridge
• New Town (Nové město) with its busy and historic Wenceslas Square
• Lesser Quarter (Malá Strana)
• Prague Castle (the largest castle in the world) with its St. Vitus Cathedral
• Josefov (the old Jewish quarter) with Old Jewish Cemetery and Altneushul
• The Lennon Wall
• Vinohrady
• National Museum
• Vyšehrad castle
• Petřínská rozhledna, an observation tower on Petřín hill, which is nearly a 1:5 copy of the Eiffel Tower
• Žižkov Television Tower with observation deck
• The New Jewish Cemetery in Olšany, location of Franz Kafka's grave
• The Metronome, a giant, functional metronome that looms over the city
• The Dancing House (Fred and Ginger Building)
• The Mucha Museum, showcasing the Art Nouveau works of Alfons Mucha
• Places connected to writers living in the city, such as Franz Kafka.

A postcard image of Prague from the top of the Petřínská rozhledna.

Milunić and Gehry's Dancing House

Culture

Most Important Cultural Institutions:

• National Theatre
• The Rudolfinum (home to the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra)
• National Opera
• National Museum
• National Library
• National Gallery

See also

• Prague Spring International Music Festival
• Prague Autumn International Music Festival
• Febiofest
• One World Film Festival
• Echoes of the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival
• Barrandov Studios
• Prague Writers Festival
• Prague International Organ Festival
• Prague Fringe Festival
• World Roma Festival
• Premiere of Mozart's Don Giovanni
• Michael Flatley Celtic Tiger European premiere

Economy

Since the late 1990s, Prague has become a popular filming location for international productions and Hollywood motion pictures. Unlike many other European cities, Prague did not suffer great destruction during World War II, and the city is often used as a "stand in" for other pre-WW2 European cities, such as Amsterdam or London. [link] [link] A combination of architecture, low costs, tax breaks, and the existing motion picture infrastructure have proved attractive to international film production companies.

Colleges and universities

Prague skyscraper.

The city contains eight universities and colleges including the oldest university in Central and Eastern Europe:

• Charles University (UK) founded in 1348
• Czech Technical University (ČVUT) founded in 1707
• Academy of Fine Arts (AVU) founded in 1800
• Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design (VŠUP) founded in 1885
• Institute of Chemical Technology (VŠCHT) founded in 1920
• Academy of Performing Arts (AMU) founded in 1945
• Czech University of Agriculture (ČZU) founded in 1952
• University of Economics (VŠE) founded in 1953

Transportation

Integrated transport system

Rail

Prague has two international railway stations, Hlavní nádraží (sometimes referred to as Wilsonovo nádraží) and Praha Holešovice. Intercity services also stop at the main stations Praha Smíchov and Masarykovo nádraží. In addition to these, there are a number of smaller suburban stations.

Air

Taxis

Jubilee Synagogue, built in 1906 to 1907 by Wilhelm Stiastny, of Vienna, is the largest Jewish place of worship in Prague

The taxi service in Prague has had a somewhat chequered history. During the rule of Communist Party in Czechoslovakia (1948–1989), the taxi service was nationalised into one umbrella company, and, with a short exception during liberalization related to the Prague Spring, no independent taxi drivers were allowed. The quality and availability of the service was low. This caused many enterprising people to run illegal taxi services. Their earnings were far above income of typical citizens and became a source of envy. After the fall of the Communist regime, the service was liberalized and anyone could become a taxi driver. Unfortunately, the chaos of transition from planned to market economy did not leave any time to implement sufficient regulations. The lack of planning and controls has led to a number of serious taxi scams operating in the city; some of which have been linked with organised crime. Many of the victims of overpricing are tourists.

Taxi services in Prague can currently be divided into three sectors. There are major taxicab companies, operating call-for-taxi services (radio-taxi) or from regulated taxi stands, where overpricing is rare and regulation mostly in place. There are independent drivers, who make pick-ups on the street; cheating is mostly associated with these cars. Lastly, there are fake taxi drivers, who operate as "contractual transport services" in order to avoid government regulation.

Sport

• Prague International Marathon
• Sparta Prague -> UEFA Champions League
• Slavia Prague -> UEFA Cup
• Sazka Arena -> 2004 Men's World Ice Hockey Championships and Euroleague Final Four 2006
• Strahov Stadium — the largest stadium in the world
• Mystic SK8 Cup — World cup of skateboarding
• Prague open — prestige Floorball cup
• and more

Miscellaneous

Prague is also the site of the most important offices and institutions of the Czech Republic and Central Europe.

• President of Czech Republic
• The Government and both houses of the Parliament
• Czech Television and other major broadcasters
• Radio Free Europe — Radio Liberty
• Prague Institute for Global Urban Development
• and more

Prague – Venue

Major events of recent years:

• NATO Summit 2002
• International Monetary Fund and World Bank Summit 2000
• International Olympic Committee Session 2004
• International Astronomical Union General Assembly 2006
• and thousands of smaller events

Famous people connected with Prague

See main article Famous people connected with Prague for a detailed list.

• Charles IV
• Rudolf II
• Jan Hus
• Bohumil Hrabal
• Franz Kafka - German Jewish writer
• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Austrian German composer
• Antonín Dvořák
• Václav Havel
• Albert Einstein - German Jewish scientist
• Milan Kundera - Famous Writer

Historical population

• The record of 1230 includes Staré Město only
• The records of 1370 and 1600 includes Staré město, Nové město, Malá Strana and Hradčany quarters
• Numbers beside other years denote the population of Prague within the administrative border of the city at that time (and population including present suburbs in parentheses).

The Church of St. Nicolas.

Capital cities of the European Union

World Heritage Sites in the Czech Republic