History And Geography

History

The City of Prague was considered to be one of Europe's most beautiful cities. Over the years it has been commonly referred to as ‘City of 100 towers', ‘Heart of the Euope', ‘Golden Prague' etc. The city was a crossroad and was believed to be a meeting place for many merchants, artists and scientists. The area on which the city has been founded contains evidences of civilizations that date back to 200 BC when the Celts occupied the area and established a settlement in the south called Závist. However, the Celts were either absorbed by or forced to leave the land by the Germanics. The area conquered by the Slavs from the 4th century onwards, though they were subdued for a brief period by the Mongolian Avars.

Legend states that the Princess Libuše and her husband, Premysl, founder of the Premysl dynasty, established Prague. The Prague Castle is an impressive mammoth structure that was built by Prince Borivoj. The great fortress Vysehrad considered as the main nucleus of Prague was constructed in the 10th century on a rock upon the right bank of the river Vltava. The Czech rulers gave both fortresses a great deal of importance. One of the rulers, Prince Wenceslas was murdered in 935 AD. He was later canonized and is now considered to be the patron saint of Bohemia.

King Vladislav II had the first bridge constructed in 1170 on the Vltava. It was called ‘the Judith Bridge'. However, the bridge was destroyed in 1342 and ‘The Charles Bridge' was constructed on its foundations.

The city grew and progressed rapidly during the 14th century reign of Charles IV, of the new Luxembourg dynasty. King Charles ordered the construction of the New Town (Nové Mesto) next to the Old Town. The Charles Bridge, which had been erected by him, connected the new district to Malá Strana. Important architectural structures built by Charles include Saint Vitus Cathedral, the oldest Gothic cathedral in central Europe inside a Castle, and the Charles University, which is considered to be the oldest university in central Europe. In 1419, the city of Prague witnessed its first defenestration. In a fierce battle that followed at the Vitkov Mountain, the Hussites won over the crusaders. In 1576, Rudolf II was elected King of Bohemia. In the period that followed, Prague witnessed attacks and conquests by the French, Bavarian and Prussian armies. Prague was declared as the capital of Czechoslovakia in 1918 following World War I. It suffered a great deal of damage in the World War II at the hands of the Nazis.

The communist parties took control of Prague in 1948 and stayed in power till when the Velvet Revolution freed itself from the communist regime. In 1993, it separated from Czechoslovakia and became the capital city of the new Czech Republic.

Geography

The City of Prague is located in the center of Europe, 500 05' latitude north, 140 27' longitude east and is 600 km away from the Baltic Sea, over 700 km away from the Northern Sea, as well as the Adriatic Sea. It is located on both banks of the Vltava River, which runs through the city. The Vltava River flows upwards from the southern part of Bohemia through the hills upon which Prague rests.

It has a rather rugged and uneven topography. The average elevation of the area is 235 m above sea level. The maximum elevation is 399 m, while the minimum elevation is 177 m. It has a total land area of 496 sq.km and is situated in the center of Europe. As such it links the Eastern part of Europe and the Western parts both geographically as well as culturally. The city has a number of mountain ranges and national parks that mainly have coniferous firs, spruce and some deciduous trees.