A brief history of the City of Prague
Prague has been the capital of the Czech state for eleven centuries. It originated as a settlement around the Prague Castle which was established around the year 880.
During the 13th century the communities at the foot of the castle were awarded the liberties of a city and the twin cities of Old Town and Lesser Town were created.
By establishing the New Town in 1348, the Emperor Charles IV of Luxembourg made Prague into one of the metropolises of Europe of the Middle Ages. He decorated it with many public buildings and works of art and also established here the first university in Central Europe, which is in the region north of the Alps and east of France. At the beginning of the 15th century, the university environment gave rise to the teachings of Jan Hus, which in turn served as the origin of the Husite revolution (1419 - 1434).
During the years 1583 - 1612, the great art enthusiast Emperor Rudolph II of Habsburg selected the Prague castle as his permanent residence and thereby Prague became renowned as the centre of artists and scholars. The period when it flourished was brought to an abrupt end by the uprising of the estates during the years 1618 - 1620 which was the start of the Thirty Year War. At the end of the conflict, Prague was relegated to a provincial city, forcefully brought back to the Catholic religion and the population decimated by the war sufferings and emigration. It was, however, restored in the unique Prague baroque style. It again flourished during the period of the industrialization.
In 1784 the Emperor Joseph II merged the Prague towns, which until than were independent (Old Town, New Town, Lesser Town and Hradčany) into a single Capital City of Prague. During the course of the 19th century it became the centre of the Czech national revival and on October 28th, 1918 it became the capital of the independent Czechoslovak Republic.
Except for the period of the Nazi occupation (1939 - 1945) Prague, which had been substantially enlarged with the addition of several neighbouring towns and villages (1922, 1968, 1974) was the metropolis of Czechoslovakia until 1992. It was the site of the so-called Prague Spring, violently terminated on August 21st, 1968 with the occupation of the city by the Warsaw Pact armies. In November 1989 it was the birthplace of the "velvet revolution", which ended the totalitarian regime and returned the country to a democratic political system. As of January 1st, 1993 Prague has been the Capital of the Czech Republic.
Main landmarks:
- Prague Castle with the Cathedral of St.Vitus, Wenceslas and Adalbert
- Vyšehrad and the National Cemetery with the Slavín monument
- The Old Town Square and the Old Town Hall with the Horologe
- Wenceslas Square with the National Museum and the monument of St. Wenceslas
- Charles Bridge with the bridge towers and the statues of the saints
- The Powder Tower and the Municipal House
- Old New Synagogue and the Old Jewish Cemetery