History of Prague

Prague, is the largest, the most famous and probably even the most beautiful city in the Czech Republic, and thus it is its capital. It has many nicknames, such as “city of a hundred spires”, “the golden city” or “the heart of Europe”. Within the area of about 496km2 live all of its 1,186,618 inhabitants, plus it is said that more than 300,000 others work there without having registered as residents. Prague is a traditional cultural center of Europe, hosting many cultural events, such as Prague Spring International Music Festival, Febiofest, One World Film Festival, Prague Writers Festival and many others. There is also a lot of buildings of cultural importance, for example National Theatre, State Opera, National Museum, The Rudolfinum, etc.

Prague lies on the area that has been settled since the Paleolithic Age and there has always been important trade routes connecting southern and northern parts of Europe. From around 500 BC the Celtic tribe known as Boii, were the first inhabitants of this region known by name. It was them who gave the region name Bohemia and the river Vltava. Then, after some Germanic tribes that migrated to Bohemia, a Slavic tribe came to settle this area. The Czech Slavic tribe reached Bohemia in the 6th century and Forefather Czech, the head of the tribe, became the founder of the Czech nation.

According to legends, Princess Libuše married a humble plowman Přemysl and together they founded the Přemyslid dynasty. From this family line came even the very first Czech ruler acknowledged by the historians – Borivoj I of Bohemia, also known as Borivoj Přemyslovec. During his reign, Methodius with his brother Cyril brought Christianity to Moravia in 863, after which Borivoj moved his seat from Levý Hradec to a newly-built place called Prague Castle grounds or shortly Prague Castle. From that moment on, Prague became the seat of the Czech rulers and the Prague Castle became the largest inhabited fortress in the world; and is the seat of the Czech president today.

At the beginning of the 10th century, the area around Prague Castle had developed into an important seat for trading, where merchants from all over Europe gathered. Then Vladislav I became the King of Bohemia and under his rule the Strahov Monastery was built as well as the very first bridge over the river Vltava – the Judith Bridge, built in 1170. It however crumbled in 1342 and a new bridge, later called the Charles Bridge, was built in its place in 1357.
In the 13th century, Prague, along with many other towns, started to rise and thus three settlements around the Prague Castle grounds gained the privilege of a town. So, under King Otakar II, New Town of Prague was established in 1257 (it was later renamed Little Quarter of Prague), the town of Hradčany dates back to 1320 and the Old Town of Prague had already gained the privilege of a town in 1230. In the same period of time, concretely in 1306, the male line of the Přemyslid dynasty died out, so the Luxembourg dynasty inherited the title of King and under Charles IV, the city flourished. On April 7, 1348 he founded the first university in central, northern and eastern Europe, which is now called the Charles University. He also rebuilt the Prague Castle and Vysehrad, plus a new bridge (Charles Bridge) was erected. Also, the construction of St. Vitus’ Cathedral had begun. In 1355, Charles was crowned the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire in Rome and Prague became the capital of the whole empire. Since Charles wanted Prague to be the most beautiful city in the empire everything was built in an independent art style called the Bohemian school.
After Charles IV, his son Wenceslas IV became king. Yet during his reign Master Jan Hus was executed in 1415 due to Sigismund, son of Charles IV, which led to the Hussite wars. With the death of Sigismund, the male line of Luxembourg dynasty died out and the Czech crown passed from one king to another for a century. Thus it also happened that Bohemia had two kings at once for a while – George of Podebrady and Matthius Corvinus. But then Rudolf II inherited all the titles and it was during his reign, when there was another glorious time for Prague. It became the cultural center of Holy Roman Empire again with many famous people living in there, such as Tycho Brahe, Johann Kepler and Giuseppe Arcimboldo. The King was, however, forced by the circumstances to issue Imperial Charter of Emperor legalizing extensive religious freedom, following to which, the Third Defenestration of Prague happened in 1618. It led to the Thirty Years War.

After winning the Battle on the White Mountain in 1620, Emperor Ferdinand II became the King of Bohemia and he proclaimed the re-Catholicization of the Czech lands, as a result of which, twenty-seven Protestant leaders were beheaded in the Old Town Square.

A great fire in 1689 devastated a great deal of Prague so that a vast renovation and rebuilding began and nearly a century later, the city had more than 80,000 inhabitants. In 1784, the four municipalities of Malá Strana, Staré Město, Nové Město and Hradčany were merged into a single entity. The nineteenth century was also an important period for Prague because the very first suburb, Karlín, was created and the first-ever railway connection was built. Also Holy Roman Empire ended in 1806, due to Napoleon.

With the end of World War I, Czechoslovakia was created and Prague became its capital. Just like during most of its history, even now was Prague a multiethnic city with important Czech, German and Jewish population but during the World War II, most of the Jews either fled or were killed in the Holocaust. For a better image, before the WWII started, there were about 50,000 Jews living in Prague, while by now, only some 1,600 people are registered in the Jewish Community.

The Nazi German occupation was ended on May 9, 1945, when the Soviet tanks arrived to Prague and within three days, they freed the whole country. It is true that the Soviets left but the country stayed under huge political influence of the SSSR and in 1948, Prague became the center of the communistic coup.

In 1989, after the Berlin wall had fallen, the Velvet Revolution crowded the streets of Prague and Czechoslovakia finally freed itself from communism and Soviet influence. Four years later, in 1993, Czechoslovakia split into two parts – the Czech Republic, with Prague being its capital, and the Slovak Republic, where Bratislava became the new capital.