PRAGUE - Gem of Europe

Attributes like the "Golden City" or "City of a Hundred Spires" belong to Prague and the fact is that Prague is one of the most beautiful cities in the world. Its beauties are multiplied by the lovely Vltava River winding through the city in silver meanders. Its surface mirrors back the city's monuments, towers, domes, palaces and houses, the green gardens and islands. Bridges clasp together ancient quarters on both sides of the river's stream. The City is in perfect unity with its River spreading majestically between the Old Town and the Lesser Town near the weir that looks charming from the oldest among the city's bridges, the Charles Bridge. Prague's territory was inhabited as early as in the antique times (around 4000 BCE). In the course of time, the early settlements on the heights around the stream drew closer and closer to the river until the 8th century when the Slavonic inhabitants made the Prague Castle headland and the area of the present Little Side an economic centre. The new settlement together with the Prague Castle area became the foundation of the historic Prague. In the late 9th century the first catholic Virgin Mary Church was built by the knight Bořivoj on the headland and soon afterward followed the Castle which became the centre of the emerging Czech Premyslide state. A witness for the architectural beauty and the important role of the place is the story of the Arab-Jewish merchant Ibrahim Ibn Jacob who visited Prague on his way through Europe in 965. He found here a town 100 years of age, built of stone and lime and with the richest trade of all. In the late l0th century, the time of bloom of the famous realm of the Boleslav knights, the settlement was fortified with a wall system around the whole headland. It comprised the St Wenceslas Chapel with the bishop's palace, the Knight's palace, the St George Church and Monastery and a number of wooden buildings. In times of conflicts among the Premyslides (after 1061) another castle in Prague gained importance - the Vyšehrad Castle. It was built some time in the late l0th century and after 1067 it became the seat of Vratislav II who intended to build it up as the residence of the Czech Sovereigns. He founded the new St Peter's Church and the St Martin parochial chapel. When he was crowned as king in 1085, the inauguration ceremony took place in the Prague Castle. The dominancy of Vyšehrad proved to be shortlived as in the later years of Soběslav I (1139) the Prague Castle became the Knight's capital again. The reign of the second Czech King Vladislav I enriched Prague with the stone Judith's Bridge, the Johannite Monastery complex, the Premonstratensian Monastery in Strahov and the Bishop's Yard in what is the present Little Side. To the Old Town the Gothic Little Side was added in 1257, founded by Přemysl Otakar II (1253-78) at the foothill of the Castle. Under his reign Prague became the Capital of one of the largest realms in Europe of those days. After the Premyslides had died out (in 1306) and the house of Luxemburg had ascended the throne (1310), Prague under Charles IV became the Capital not only of the Czech Kingdom, but also the residence of the Roman German Kaiser. The city's importance was promoted by the numerous new institutions, in the first place the University (1348) and the territorial expansion in the present New Town. The Vyšehrad Castle, the mythic residence of the first Premyslide, was rebuilt into a large Gothic fortress under the supervision of Charles IV. Charles's construction activities in Prague culminated in building a new stone bridge, an outstanding project, built by Peter Parléř in 1357-1400. The ostentatious bridgehead tower on the Old Town side decorated with figurative ornamental sculptures of high artistic value, picturing also many coats-of-arms of Charles's possessions, served not only for defense, but represented the King's Majesty, the Crown and the State. In 1348 Charles IV founded the New Town in a broad stripe of land around the city's walls. The Little Side settlement around the Castle started to be called the Lesser Town. The architecture of the New Town was picturesque because places for dominant churches and houses were chosen very carefully so that they can dominate the views. The city was a paramount work of the architecture of the Middle Ages surprising even today by its perfect composition. The New Town, Vyšehrad, the Prague Castle and the Little Side were surrounded by the new gothic wall system with numerous gates, making up a safety ring for the city's inhabitants. When Charles IV died in 1378, all his work was but an incomplete project. Wenceslas IV who did not inherit his father's political skills , had a sense of art which helped him accomplish the building program of Gothic Prague. When he died in 1419, Prague was one of the most beautiful and magnificent cities in the world deserving the name of "Rome of the North". Its undulating land with two castles, hundreds of towers and spires above the low skyline of citizens' houses over the indented walls involved in the green and a silver stripe of Vltava inbetween survived the next 200 years unchanged.

Renaissance houses in the Old Town Square

The Vltava, Charles Bridge and the Hradchin

A walk on the Charles Bridge

The Old Town Square with the dominant Týn Church in the background

The Prague Castle garden

The Hradchin silhouette, seen from the Charles Bridge

National Theatre