Prague – also known as Praha – has a rich history dating back over a thousand years beginning as a settlement sprawling outside of Prague Castle. From this seat of power and throughout the 800’s leading into the 14th century, Bohemian kings ruled the surrounding area which quickly turned into a bustling commercial center. The Golden Age of Prague was ushered in 1310 by Charles IV, King of Bohemia and Holy Roman Emperor who ruled from Prague. This golden age was characterized by the reconstruction of Prague in a High Gothic architectural style as seen in the images below:
Throughout the following centuries leading up until the 18th century Prague experienced several changes in its leadership due to religious strife. Throughout the late 15th century and into the 16th, the Kingdom of Bohemia became part of the Hapsburg monarchy and experienced a period of turmoil defined by the reformation and religious conflict between Protestant and Roman Catholic forces. in 1620 one of the larger conflicts known as the Battle of White Mountain was a result of defenestration of Bohemian power by the catholic Hapsburg’s. This defeat to Czech nationalists at the hands of the German Hapsburg monarchy preceded the Germanisation of Czechoslovakia as the German language was introduced as the second language.
By the outset of the 18th century Prague began to experience a national reawakening as education, trade, and commerce improved. This tied into the merge of the four historical Prague Towns (Old Town, New Town, Little Quarter, and Hradcany) into a unified city of Prague. Finally in 1918 by the end of WWI, the Czech National Reawakening had taken shape into the Czechoslovakian republic with its first president taking office.
Unfortunately not long after the birth of the republic towards the end of the 1930’s, Hitler’s armies moved into the Sudetenland region of Czechoslovakia and fascism set in. Despite the occupation by Nazi troops, there remained an anti-fascist resistance which endured more than 6 years of occupation. The conflict lasted until the Prague Uprising in May of 1945. The uprising followed the successful assassination of a top ranking Nazi SS General – Reinhard Heydrich and the campaigning of a Czechoslovak government in exile led by president Edvard Benes.
After 1945, Prague’s demographic and cultural importance in the region was significantly effected by the ensuing Cold War and the Stanlization of Czech society set into place. By the spring of 1968 the population protested against communist rule and brought change to a society that had had their culture stifled for decades. This society had endured throughout strife and division throughout both world wars, yet the art and literature produced from this period is evident in the architecture and cultural movements that drove change and made Prague into the capital city and city of modernism that it is today.
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