Prague Rough Guides

Historic, whimsical, hedonistic and cynical, Prague bewilders its site visitors and charms all of them. Considering that the iron-curtain fell in 1989, tourism and financial investment has poured in, switching the previously ramshackle Communist capital into a buzzing Western metropolis.

Streaming through the east towards Germany, the Vltava divides Prague at the heart. Hradčany and Malá Strana, as soon as home towards the Austro-Hungarian elite, stay primly regarding left-bank, experienced by the noisier commercial quarters, Staré Město, Josefov and Nové Město. Hradčany, which houses the castle and St Vitus’ Cathedral, tumbles into Malá Strana (small one-fourth), a maze of cobbles, carved doorhandles and stickleback roofs. Over the lake is Staré Město (Old Town), a delicate internet of alleys and passages working towards Staroměstské náměstí, the old market square. Within Staré Město could be the old Jewish quarter, Josefov, which now encloses an extravagance shopping region. Nové Město (New Town), more main part of the modern city, spans the biggest section of old Prague, with obstructs stretching south and east of the old city in long advances.

Brief history

Prince Bořivoj, an early Christian, founded initial Czech dynasty in 870, and his grandson, Prince Václav (the Good King Wenceslas regarding the song), became the Czech patron saint before being offed by his younger sibling Boleslav I. Prague practiced a fantastic age under the urbane emperor, Charles IV, a polylingual patron of arts whose court was the center of fourteenth-century European countries. Charles founded the college as well as as a complete brand-new one-fourth, Nové Město, built the Charles Bridge and St Vitus’ Cathedral. A long amount of Austro-Hungarian guideline offered Prague its Teutonic facades and high-minded coffeehouses, while the nationwide Revival reasserted the Slavic identification for the city and the onion dome rose once again. The short-lived First Republic, modelled on US democracy, crashed whenever Nazi troops marched into Czechoslovakia, and President Beneš’s decision to simply accept German “protection” was a dark minute in nation‘s record, but saved the city from decimation. In 1948 Communism found its way to a wave of stained concrete, taking a few architectural pearls together with the swine. The period since ’89 has actually seen fast construction, but with various exceptions, such Jean Nouvel’s Golden Angel shopping mall and also the playful Dancing House, it's been traditional and timid. Not so the restaurants, motels, taverns and groups, which have re-awoken Prague’s slumbering decadence.