Visit Golden Prague City
the Capital of the Czech Republic
Prague's History
Prague (Praha, Prag, Praga, Praag) has been one of the most beautiful European cities since the Middle Ages. This place was a great crossroad, where many merchant, artists and scientists met.
First mentions about initial inhabitants of
Vltava River valley goes to very deep history, when Celtic tribes come in 500 BC. First Slavic tribe had arrived to Bohemian Country in about 500 AD. In 9th century Borivoj the Prince established the
Prague Castle. In 10th century
Vysehrad Fortress was built on the rock upon the right bank of the
Vltava River. Both fortresses (
Vysehrad and
Prague Castle) have become very important places of Czech rulers.
14th century was Golden Age of the town of Prague - Charles IV, King of Bohemia and Holy Roman Emperor, rules the country from 1346 till 1378 and will be remembered as the most beloved Czech King. Prague becomes one of the most prosperous cities in Europe and the cultural center of whole Central Europe. King Charles IV carried out the architectural reconstruction of Prague in High Gothic style, adding new, expensive buildings such as the Castle complex, at Vysehrad and in the town. He founded the very first (1348) university in Central Europe in Prague, now called Charles University, founded and built the New Town of Prague (1348) and adorned his residential town with numerous structures and public buildings like the famous Charles Bridge (1357), magnificient St. Vitus Cathedral, the Slavonic Abbey, the church at Karlov and many others.
Ferdinand, the Roman Catholic Habsburg, was elected King of Bohemia (1526) and the Kingdom of Bohemia became part of the Habsburg monarchy and after the defeat of the first anti-Habsburg uprising of the Bohemian Estates (1547) the people of Prague Towns lost a large part of their property and political privileges. It was a period when culture flourished thanks to the personality and court of the art-loving Emperor Rudolph II (1576-1612) who moved his seat to Prague in 1583 and endowed galleries of Prague with the best Mannerist art collection in Europe.
In 1784 Emperor Joseph II merged the four historical Prague Towns (Prague Castle, Lesser Town, Old Town and New Town) into one unified Capital City of Prague, which became the main core of industrialization of Bohemia and the centre of Bohemian National Revival...
At the end of 30's on March 15th, 1939 German armies of Adolf Hitler occupied Prague. The anti-fascist resistance of the people in Prague lasted more than 6 years and, after the closure of the Czech universities on November 17th, 1939 (International Student's Day) and the assassination of the Reichsprotektor R. Heydrich (1942), reached its culmination in the Prague Uprising (May 5th-9th, 1945)...
After 1945 role, size, structure and social importance of Prague City were decided even more emphatically by national aspects imposed on it, without taking much account of the city's own development needs. With the Cold War in full swing the Stalinization of Czechoslovakian society was quick to follow. In the year 1968 movement demanding "socialism with a human face" reached its climax. This events of the, so-called 'Prague Spring', lead to the Soviet's invasion into Czechoslovakia. On August 21st, 1968 five countries of the Warsaw Pact occupied Prague...
On January 1st 1993, after the split of Czechoslovakia, Prague became the capital city of the Czech Republic...
Prague visited many prominent personalities for centuries. Some of them were Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Ludwig van Beethoven, the British Queen Elisabeth II, Pope John Paul II and many others. Czech writers Jan Neruda, Jaroslav Hasek, Jaroslav Seifert or Franz Kafka got inspired by Prague, as their native town, mentioned it in their work.
Prague is a complex of historical monuments and shows all artistic styles. The historical centre of Prague is situated on both banks of the Vltava River. Historical centre consists from the 6 quarters, which once were independent cities and were put together in 18th century. Those are
Old Town,
Josefov (the Jewish Quarter - there is a well preserved part of the Old Jewish Town, today as part of Old Town),
New Town,
Lesser Town,
Hradcany (
Prague Castle) and
Vysehrad. There are cumulated many museums, galleries, palaces, gardens and historical buildings. Prague, as Capital of the
Czech Republic is the most significant city historical reservation. Since 1992, historical centre of Prague is put to the List of World Culture and Nature Heritage Register of UNESCO.
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