Prague (Czech: Praha), is the capital and largest
city of the Czech Republic. Situated on the Vltava River in central Bohemia,
it is home to approximately 1.2 million people. Since 1992, its historic
center has been included in the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites. According
to Guinness World Records, Prague Castle is the largest ancient castle in
the world. The four independent boroughs that had formerly constituted Prague—Hradcany,
Malá Strana, Staré Mesto and Nové Mesto—were proclaimed
a single city in 1784. Further expansion occurred with the annexation of
city quarters Josefov in 1850 and Vyšehrad in 1883, and in early 1922,
an additional 37 municipalities were incorporated, raising its population
to 676,000. In 1938, the population reached one million.
Since the fall of the Iron Curtain, Prague has
become one of Europe's and the world's most popular tourist destinations.
It is the sixth-most visited European city after London, Paris, Rome,
Madrid and Berlin.[2]
Prague suffered considerably less damage during
World War II than other major cities in the region, allowing most of its
historic architecture to stay true to form. It boasts one of the world's
most pristine and varied collections of Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque,
neoclassicism, Art Nouveau, cubism, and ultra-modern architecture. Unique
in the world is cubism, elsewhere limited to paintings but here materialized
in architecture as well. Prague’s cubists even set up a housing establishment
inspired by this style. Arts under communism were limited to “socialist
realism,” with its unsightly high-rise apartment buildings built
of prefabricated panels.
Major events in the history of its peoples' quest
for faith are evident in the city's culture; thus, the nickname "City
of a Hundred Spires" and "Golden City," for its cornucopia
of churches. Only a brief excursion into the succession of its rulers
and the famous, with their respective imprints on architecture, arts,
and learning can one fully appreciate and understand Prague.
