PRAGUE

Czech Praha city, capital of the Czech Republic. Situated on the Vltava River, Prague is the country's major economic and cultural centre and has a rich architectural heritage that dates to the 9th century. From small original settlements, Prague has spread over hills, up tributary valleys, and along riverside terraces. Prague has been prominent in the Czech Republic's economic life since the intensive development in the 19th century of the textile and machinery industries. Manufacturing is still the largest employer, followed by commerce, construction, education, culture, administration, transport and communications, and science and research. Principal industries include heavy and precision engineering and the production of food (including the famous Prague beer), electronics, and chemicals. The Vltava River cuts a north-south path through central Prague. On its left (west) bank are located the Royal Garden, Hradcany (Prague Castle), and the Mal Strana ("Lesser Quarter"), which is blanketed by gardens and parks. The right (east) bank of the Vltava is dominated by the Star Mesto ("Old Town," dating from the 12th century) and the Nov Mesto ("New Town," 14th century). Both are rich in historical monuments and churches, and the latter is responsible for Prague's description as the "city of a hundred spires." The narrow streets, small taverns, and restaurants of the older sections contrast with the broad sweep of Vclevsk Square and with modern parks and housing developments. New housing estates, for example (referred to as "towns"), have been erected on the periphery to alleviate Prague's housing shortage. Architectural treasures range from the Romanesque (the 10th-century Church of St. George) through the Gothic (St. Vitus' Cathedral and Tn Church) to the Baroque (the Vald-tejn and Clam-Gallas palaces), Rococo (the Golz-Kinsk Palace), Classical (the Bedrich Smetana Museum and the Belvedere Palace), and Neoclassical (the National Museum and the National Theatre). The Old-New Synagogue and the Old Jewish Cemetery-Europe's oldest-testify to the strong Jewish tradition in Prague's life. The architectural harmony of the city has been enhanced by post-1945 planning, which has preserved the ancient core of the city and has supervised all modern building. Prague is famed for its cultural life, particularly in music and literature. The music of the great Czech composers Bedrich Smetana, Antonn Dvork, and Leo Jancek is commemorated annually in a spring festival. The city's fine orchestras-the Prague Symphony and the Czech Philharmonic-are world-renowned. The writers Franz Kafka, Rainer Maria Rilke, and Jaroslav Haek, all born in Prague, became internationally famous. In the democratic revolution of 1989, which peacefully overthrew the communist government of Czechoslovakia, Vaclav Havel, a Prague playwright, became the nation's president. Institutions of higher education include Charles University (1348), the oldest in central Europe. Scientific study, promoted by the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences, is built on the tradition of such Prague scholars as Tycho Brahe, Johannes Kepler, and Albert Einstein. The Academy of Arts and the Academy of Music are also located in the city. Bus, streetcar, and subway provide public transportation. Rail lines radiate in all directions, and passenger boats ply the Vltava. The city's international airport is at nearby Ruzyne. Area city, 192 square miles (496 square km); metropolitan area, 301 square miles (780 square km). Pop. (1991 prelim.) city, 1,212,010; (1985 est.) metropolitan area, 1,256,092. The early period The foundation of the city For thousands of years that portion of the Vltava's course where Prague was to rise was crossed by trade routes linking northern and southern Europe. The region is replete with Paleolithic relics, and Neolithic farmers inhabited the region from around 5000 to 2700 BC. Celts had settlements in the region from about 500 to 200 BC, including the fortified Zvist, to the south of Prague. From the 4th to the 6th century AD, Slavs appeared on the Vltava banks, followed by the Avars. The first settlement at what is now Prague has been traced to the second half of the 9th century. The oldest building was Vyehrad (hrad, "castle"), set on a commanding right-bank hill. It was followed by what was to become Hradcany, set on an equally commanding left-bank site a little downstream. Legend (stirringly told in Smetana's opera Libue) ascribes the foundation of Prague to a Princess Libue and her husband, Premysl, founder of the Premyslid dynasty; legend notwithstanding, the Premyslids, in power from about 800 to 1306, consolidated a political base centred on Prague that was to be the nucleus of the Bohemian state and that enabled the natural trade advantages of the city site to develop under defensive protection. The dynasty included St. Wenceslas (Vclav), who was murdered by his brother Boleslav in about 939 and whose statue now looks down upon the square to which his name has been given; and Boleslav I, whose reign (c. 936-967) witnessed the consolidation of power against a German threat. The little community flourished, and in 965 the Jewish merchant and traveler Ibrahim ibn Ya'qub was able to describe it as a "busy trading centre." In 973 the bishopric of Prague was founded. Medieval growth The economic expansion of the community was reflected in the topography of the city. A market centre on the right bank, opposite Hradcany, developed into the Old Town (Star mesto), particularly after the construction of the first stone bridge, the Judith Bridge, over the river in 1170. By 1230 the Old Town had been given borough status and was defended by a system of walls and fortifications. On the opposite bank, under the walls of Hradcany, the community known as Mal Strana (literally, "Small Side") was founded in 1257. Following the eclipse of the Premyslids, the house of Luxembourg came to power when John of Luxembourg, son of the future emperor Henry VII, became king of Bohemia. His son, Charles IV, Bohemian king and Holy Roman emperor, had his capital at Prague from 1346 to 1378 and took considerable personal interest in the development of the city. In 1348 he founded Charles University, the first in central Europe, which was later to attract scholars and students from throughout the Continent. His reign also saw the growth of the planned New Town (Nov mesto) adjacent to the Old Town; construction of the Charles Bridge (1357, reconstructed in 1970) linking the Old Town and the Mal Strana; and the beginning (1344) of the great St. Vitus' Cathedral, which was not completed until 1929. Other buildings included the Carolinum (the central hall of the university), the town hall (destroyed in 1945), and several churches and monasteries in the New Town. The Jewish ghetto was also developed, and the bishopric was raised to an archbishopric in 1344. By the 14th century Prague had become a major central European city, with the Czech money minted at nearby Kutn Hora serving as the hard currency of the entire region. Foreign merchants, notably Germans and Italians, became economically and politically powerful in uneasy alliance with the kings. The social order, however, became less stable because of the emergent guilds of craftsmen, themselves often torn by internal conflicts. The town paupers added a further volatile element. Additional reading Geoffrey Moorhouse, Prague (1980), offers information on all aspects of the city. Guidebooks with information on history include Alois Svoboda, Prague (1965, reissued 1968), in English; Emanuel Poche, The Golden Lane on Prague Castle (1969; originally published in Czech, 1969), a description of the picturesque street of Hradcany; and Frantiek Kafka, Baedeker's Prague, trans. from German (1987). Photographic views of the city are presented in Jir Dolezal and Evzen Vesel, Pamtky star Prahy (1966), a survey of historical Prague, with brief commentary; Eugen Vasiliak, Nad Prahou: Prague Seen from Above (1966), a book of aerial photographs of old and new Prague with text in six languages; Miroslav Koreck, Prague in Colour (1976; originally published in Czech, 1975), which portrays the city's many architectural styles and major landmarks; and Bohumil Landisch and Vt Paloch, Praha: Praga: Prague (1982), with annotations in Czech, English, German, and Russian. A study of the city from the perspective of urban sociology is provided by F.W. Carter, "Prague and Sofia: An Analysis of Their Changing Internal City Structure," ch. l5 in R.A. French and F.E. Ian Hamilton (eds.), The Socialist City: Spatial Structure and Urban Policy (1979), pp. 425-459. See also Jir Hruza and Blahomr Borovicka, Prague: A Socialist City (1985). F.W. Carter, "Kafka's Prague," ch. 2 in J.P. Stern (ed.), The World of Franz Kafka (1980), pp. 30-43, is an essay on Prague in Kafka's lifetime. Works describing the history of the city include Count (Franz) Ltzow, The Story of Prague (1902, reprinted 1971); Josef Jancek (ed.), Dejiny Prahy (1964), covering the development and history of the city from the earliest times to 1960; Joseph Wechsberg, Prague: The Mystical City (1971), essays on Prague's history; and Josef Jancek, Mal dejiny Prahy, 3rd rev. ed. (1983), on history and architecture. Jan Kazimour Richard Horsley Osborne Francis William Carter