Prague

Nicknames for Prague have included "city of a hundred (or thousand) spires", "the golden city", "the Paris of the Twenties in the Nineties", the "mother of all cities", and "the heart of Europe". Since 1992, the historic center of Prague has been included in the UNESCO list of world heritage sites.

History

Founded in the latter part of the 9th century, Prague soon became the seat of the kings of Bohemia, some of whom later reigned also as emperors of the Holy Roman Empire. The city flourished during the 14th century reign of Charles IV, who ordered the building of the New City, the Charles Bridge, Saint Vitus Cathedral, the oldest gothic cathedral in central Europe and actually inside the Castle, and the Charles University, the oldest university in central Europe north of the Alps. Prague was then the third-largest city in Europe.

The four independent boroughs that had formerly constituted Prague were eventually proclaimed a single city in 1784. Those four cities were Hradčany (the Castle District, west and north of the Castle), Malá Strana (the Lesser Town, south of the Castle), Staré Město (the Old Town, on the east bank opposite the Castle) and Nové Město (the New Town, further south and east). The city underwent further expansion with the annexation of Josefov in 1850 and Vyšehrad in 1883, and at the beginning of 1922, another 37 municipalities were incorporated, raising the city's population to 676,000. Most of the city's 50,000 Jews died in the Nazi genocide of World War II.

Prague suffered from serious flooding in August 2002, with parts of the city having to be evacuated. The floods caused a lot of damage, but fortunately no major landmarks (such as the Charles Bridge) were destroyed.

Sights

Prague is a popular tourist destination. There are lots of old buildings, many with beautiful murals on them. It contains one of the world's most pristine and varied collections of architecture, from Art Nouveau to Baroque, Cubist, Gothic, Neo-Classical and ultra-modern. Some of its many tourist attractions are:

• Staré Město
• various places connected to Franz Kafka
• Malá Strana
• Hradčany with the Prague Castle and St. Vitus Cathedral
• the Charles Bridge
• the Lennon Wall
• Old Town Square and the Astronomical Clock
• Josefov (the old Jewish quarter)
• Wenceslas Square
• National Museum
• Vyšehrad castle
• Petrinska Rozhledna, an observation tower, which is nearly a 1 : 5 copy of Eiffel Tower
• TV Tower with observation deck
• Zizkov cemetery, location of Franz Kafka's grave
  

  Culture

Economy

Prague is the wealthiest city in Central and Eastern Europe, and wealthier than many in Western Europe, with a per-capita GDP (PPP) of EUR 31,369, which is at 149% of the European Union average.

Colleges and universities