"Prague" a Prague Travel Page by bugulma

I like cities where there are many historical places but Prague struck me dumb. I've never seen so many historical and architectural in one place. I really spent wonderful time in the city. Besides everything was blooming and I will remember forever my way from the airport: the blooming lilac bushes on both sides of the road. Just fantastic. Thus, this year, 2005, I had 2 springs: one in Prague and other one in Moscow :-). The weather was quite nice and in spite of it was changed often, sunny day turned into rainy and then back, my face became brown after 5 days in the city. I want to thank my friend Jana (NightStar in VT) for her help in my coming and staying in Prague.

First settlements in the area date back to IV BC when Celts tribes lived here. One of them had a name "Boya" and this gave a Latin name to the area – Bohemia. Since V AD the Slavic tribes live here. In the first part of IX century there was a strong kingdom Moravia, which brought Christianity. Kirill and Mefody have contributed heavily to the spreading of Christianity. Besides they compiled the first alphabet for Slavic. Prague became a capital of Bohemia in X century. The mightiest time in the history of Bohemia is related with name of Karl IV who ruled the country in 1346-1378. It was flourishing of economy and golden age for culture (for example, in 1348 university was opened. It was the first university in the territory of Roman Empire). In the beginning of XV century Jan Gus, the famous reformer of church, began his appearance in public. In 1415 he was accused of heresy and burnt in the fire. It was beginning of so named Gus Wars.

In 1526 Austrian archduke Ferdinand of Habsburg became Czech king. Since Austrian kings ruled the country till 1918. Prague wasn't capital city anymore and was just the city of Austrian Empire. It doesn't mean that the development of Czech culture was stopped but since then it had influence of Western Europe style. But in 1618 Bohemia revolted against Austria and it was the beginning of European 30-years war. In 1648 Bohemia had utter defeat and Austrian influence became absolute. Many people of Bohemia left their homeland. Only in the end of XVIII century the Czech culture began to revive. In 1784 Austrian Emperor Josef II joined several towns (Stare Mesto, Hradchany, Nove Mesto, Josefov, Mala Strana were independent towns) in one city.
In 1918, when Germany and Austro-Hungary lost world war, Czech got independence and in October 28 the new country appeared – Czechoslovakia. During WWII the country was occupied by Germany and divided into Czech and Slovakia. In May 1945 Prague was freed by Soviet Army. But since then Czechoslovakia fell under control of USSR. In 1967 there were public appearance for political and citizen freedom. The answer was the bringing Soviet tanks to Prague in August 21, 1968. Nevertheless, in 1989 communist government was sent in the resignation (2 years later Soviet Army left the country). And last event in the history, Prague is capital of the country that is a member of European Union since May 1, 2004.