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Prague
built 676 days ago
For most of its history Prague had been an ethnically mixed city with important Czech, German, and Jewish populations. Prague had German-speaking near-majority in 1848, but by 1880 the German population decreased to 13.52 percent, and by 1910 to 5.97 percent, due to a massive increase of the city's overall population caused by the influx of Czechs from the rest of Bohemia and Moravia and ... due to the assimilation of some Germans. As a result the German minority along with the German-speaking Jewish community remained mainly in the central, ancient parts of city, while the Czechs had a near-absolute majority in the fast-growing suburbs of Prague. As late as 1880, "Germans" still formed 22 percent of the population of Stare Mesto (the Old Town), 16 percent in Nove Mesto (the New Town), 20 percent in Mala strana (the Little Quarter), 9 percent in Hradcany, and 39 percent in the former Jewish Ghetto of Josefov. From 1939, when the country was occupied by Nazi Germany, and during World War II, most Jews either fled the city or were killed in the Holocaust. Most of the Jews living in Prague after the war emigrated during the years of Communism, particularly after the communist coup, the establishment of Israel in 1948, and the Soviet invasion in 1968.
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Terezin Concentration Camp, located about 60 kilometers from Prague, was meant to be the "model" concentration camp, which was shown to the outside world. Originally built as a military fortress by Joseph II, Terezin was a Big Fortress with a Small Fortress inside of it. While a military garrison, it looked like a mini-village, or a ghetto. Jews from Bohemia, Moravia and the rest of Europe were brought here and then were sent to the death camps. More than 30,000 Jewish adults and children died in Terezin. Once a child turned 14 years old, they were treated as an adult. Fifteen hundred children lived at Terezin during the Holocaust, only 100 survived.
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Prague has highway connections from five major directions. Unfortunately, the highway network in the Czech Republic is quite incomplete and some highways are old and in poor condition. Thus, the highway connection from Prague to the border of the Czech Republic is available only in two directions - southeast and southwest. The south-western highway (D5; international E50) leads through Pilsen (Plzeň) to Germany. The D5 highway continues in Germany as A6, until the connection with A93 (the remaining of A6 through to Nurnberg is under construction). Riding from the state border to Prague takes about an hour and a half (160 km).
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Prague has survived time's trials gloriously intact, through more than 1000 years of wars, floods, occupations, religious strife and 40 years of communism. Today she wears her age beautifully. Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque and Art Nouveau buildings flank winding cobblestone streets. Old-fashioned street lamps cast a golden glow throughout the compact, historic center. The fairytale atmosphere more resembles a period movie set than a thriving European Union capital only 16 years free of the Iron ..[Read More]
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In 1618 the famous Defenestration of Prague provoked the Thirty Years' War. Ferdinand II of Habsburg was deposed, and his place as King of Bohemia taken by Frederick V, Elector Palatine. But the Czech army was crushed in the Battle of White Mountain (1620), not far from the city, and thenceforth Prague and Bohemia lived a harsh period in which religious tolerance was abolished and Catholic Counter-Reformation became dominant in every aspect of life. In 1621 there was an execution of 27 Czech lords (involved in the Battle of White Mountain) in the Old Town Square. The city suffered ... under Saxon (1631) and Swedish (1648) occupation. Moreover, after the Peace of Westphalia of the latter year, Ferdinand moved the court to Vienna, and Prague began a steady decline which reduced the population from the 60,000 it had had in the years before the war to 20,000.
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Gaze at the magnificent skyline of Prague, punctuated by the towers & turrets, steeples & domes of this splendid, historic city & know you are in the Old World. "The City of a Hundred Spires" suffered little damage in the world wars. Its ancient bridges are intact and its old town squares are still completely bordered with original ornately decorated Medieval, Renaissance, Baroque and Art Nouveau buildings, recently restored and in glorious condition. You will surely feel as if you are walking into history, since very little changed while this country languished under communism. It becomes immediately apparent why Prague women are so beautiful.
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