Prague
Prague is a political, cultural, and economic hub of Central Europe, with a rich history and Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque architecture.[13] The Czech name Praha is derived from an old Slavic word, práh, which means "ford" or "rapid", referring to the city's origin at a crossing point of the Vltava river.[21] Jewish chronicler David Solomon Ganz, citing Cyriacus Spangenberg, claimed that the city was founded as Boihaem in c. 1306 BC by an ancient king, Boyya.[24][22] Around the area where present-day Prague stands, the 2nd century map drawn by Roman geographer Ptolemaios mentioned a Germanic city called Casurgis.In the following three centuries, the Czech tribes built several fortified settlements in the area, most notably in the Šárka valley, Butovice and Levý Hradec.[29] The legendary origins of Prague attribute its foundation to the 8th-century Czech duchess and prophetess Libuše and her husband, Přemysl, founder of the Přemyslid dynasty.[38] His father John of Bohemia began construction of the Gothic Saint Vitus Cathedral, within the largest of the Prague Castle courtyards, on the site of the Romanesque rotunda there.Having become too dangerous for the political and religious establishment, Hus was summoned to the Council of Constance, put on trial for heresy, and burned at the stake in Konstanz in 1415.Peasant rebels, led by the general Jan Žižka, along with Hussite troops from Prague, defeated Emperor Sigismund, in the Battle of Vítkov Hill in 1420.This swallow-tailed banner is approximately 4 by 6 ft (1.2 by 1.8 m), with a red field sprinkled with small white fleurs-de-lis, and a silver old Town Coat-of-Arms in the center.This was a prosperous period for the city: famous people living there in that age include the astronomers Tycho Brahe and Johannes Kepler, the painter Arcimboldo, the alchemists Edward Kelley and John Dee, the poet Elizabeth Jane Weston, and others.Ferdinand II of Habsburg was deposed, and his place as King of Bohemia taken by Frederick V, Elector Palatine; however his army was crushed in the Battle of White Mountain (1620) not far from the city.The Industrial Revolution produced great changes and developments in Prague, as new factories could take advantage of the coal mines and ironworks of the nearby regions.In 1942, Prague was witness to the assassination of one of the most powerful men in Nazi Germany—Reinhard Heydrich—during Operation Anthropoid, accomplished by Czechoslovak national heroes Jozef Gabčík and Jan Kubiš.This spurred the new secretary of the Czechoslovak 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".The other Warsaw Pact member countries, except Romania and Albania, were led by the Soviet Union to repress these reforms through the invasion of Czechoslovakia and the capital, Prague, on 21 August 1968.In 1989, after riot police beat back a peaceful student demonstration, the Velvet Revolution crowded the streets of Prague, and the capital of Czechoslovakia benefited greatly from the new mood.In June 2009, as the result of financial pressures from the global recession, Prague's officials chose to cancel the city's planned bid for the 2020 Summer Olympics.With the growth of low-cost airlines in Europe, Prague has become a weekend city destination allowing tourists to visit its museums and cultural sites as well as try its Czech beers and cuisine.The city has many buildings by renowned architects, including Adolf Loos (Villa Müller), Frank O. Gehry (Dancing House) and Jean Nouvel (Golden Angel).Hollywood films produced in Prague include Mission Impossible, Dungeons and Dragons, xXx, Blade II, Children of Dune, Alien vs.Video games set in Prague include Osman, Vampire: The Masquerade – Redemption, Soldier of Fortune II: Double Helix, Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness, Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb, Broken Sword: The Sleeping Dragon, Still Life, Metal Gear Solid 4, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, Forza Motorsport 5, 6 and Deus Ex: Mankind Divided.Historical fiction novels: The Discovery of Witches, Shadows of Night by Deborah Harkness In 2008, the Allegro restaurant received the first Michelin star in the whole of the post-Communist part of Central Europe.In the Eurostat research, Prague ranked fifth among Europe's 271 regions in terms of gross domestic product per inhabitant, achieving 172 per cent of the EU average.Prague suffered considerably less damage during World War II than some other major cities in the region, allowing most of its historic architecture to stay true to form.It contains one of the world's most pristine and varied collections of architecture, from Romanesque, to Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque, Rococo, Neo-Renaissance, Neo-Gothic, Art Nouveau, Cubist, Neo-Classical and ultra-modern.[114] An iconic part of the city that made a comeback in 2025 is Prague's Matějská pouť (St. Matthew's fun fair) Cyclone roller coaster.The railway system links Prague with major European cities (which can be reached without transfers), including Dresden, Berlin, Hamburg, Leipzig, Regensburg and Munich (Germany); Vienna, Graz and Linz (Austria); Warsaw, Kraków and Przemyśl (Poland); Bratislava, Poprad and Košice (Slovakia); Budapest (Hungary); Basel and Zürich (Switzerland).[146] The annual conference Forum 2000, which was founded by former Czech President Václav Havel, Japanese philanthropist Yōhei Sasakawa, and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Elie Wiesel in 1996, is held in Prague.Conferences have attracted a number of prominent thinkers, Nobel laureates, former and acting politicians, business leaders and other individuals like: Frederik Willem de Klerk, Bill Clinton, Nicholas Winton, Oscar Arias Sánchez, Dalai Lama, Hans Küng, Shimon Peres and Madeleine Albright.
Praha (disambiguation)Prague (disambiguation)Capital cityPrague CastleNational TheatrePankrácOld Town SquareMalá StranaCoat of armsWordmarkCzech RepublicBohuslav SvobodaDemonym(s)Time zoneISO 3166 codeVehicle registrationUNESCO World Heritage SitesessionEurope and North Americalargest cityBohemiaVltavaCentral EuropeRomanesqueGothicRenaissanceBaroqueKingdom of BohemiaHoly Roman EmperorsCharles IVRudolf IIHabsburg monarchyAustria-HungaryBohemianProtestant ReformationsThirty Years' WarCzechoslovakiaCommunist eraCharles BridgePrague astronomical clockJewish QuarterPetřínVyšehradUNESCOWorld Heritage SitesCharles Universityglobal cityLondonIstanbulSlavicthresholdLibušePřemyslid dynastyOld TownLesser TownFrenchLady Diana CooperDesert Island DiscsLongfellowEdward LearSpiresBernard BolzanoHistory of PragueTimeline of PraguePaleolithicDavid Solomon GanzCyriacus SpangenbergCelticoppidumZbraslavGermanic tribesMarcomanniLombardsMaroboduusPtolemaiosMigration PeriodWestern Roman EmpireSlavic tribesCzech tribesŠárka valleyButoviceLevý HradeccathedralPřemyslkings of BohemiaBoleslaus II the PiousbishopricarchbishopricArchbishopric of MainzHispano-JewishAbraham ben JacobOld New SynagogueVladislaus IJudith of ThuringiaOttokar IIHradčanyMagdeburg rightsStaré MěstoboroughSt. Vitus CathedralCharles IV, Holy Roman EmperorLuxembourg dynastyNew Townoldest universityJohn of BohemiaSaint Vitus CathedralcraftsmenguildsWenceslaus IVJan HusrectorBethlehem ChapelJohn WycliffeCouncil of ConstanceheresyKonstanzfirst defenestrationJan Želivskýproto-ProtestantismHussite WarsJan ŽižkaSigismundBattle of Vítkov HillBattle of Prague (1648)Vltava riverRoyal Military Museum