Prague

Adam Šindel, 4. B

Basic infoPrague is the capital and also the largest city of the Czech Republic.

It is the fourteenth largest city of the European Union.

Population – 1 290 211 people

Area – 496 km2

Density of population – 2,601 inhabitants per km2

It is the seat of Czech president, government and High Court of Justice.

Prague is located northward from the centre of Bohemia.

Prague is also political, business, educational and cultural centre of the Czech

Republic and considered one of the nicest cities in the world.

Symbols

The Small Coat of Arms – There are walls with a silver spirelet and three

towers on a red shield, made of 112 blockstones, each of them represents one

of the land-registered areas. Then there is an opened gate and a silver arm

holding a silver sword.

Symbols The Big Coat of Arms There are three two – tailed silver

lions (a symbol of Bohemia), then at

the bottom is a watchword „Praga

Caput Rei Publicae“, which means

Prague, head of the republic. Above

the Small Coat of Arms there are

three gold crowned helmets. At the

top on each side there are twelve

historical flags, each of them

represents one town district.

Symbols

Flag – Consists of two identical horizontal stripes. The upper one is yellow,

and the lower is red. Aspect ratio is 3:2. Colour appear from the Coat of Arms.

Sometimes the flag contains the Big Coat of Arms.

GeographyPrague lies on the Prague Flat.

Rivers – the Vltava river and the Berounka river. The Vltava springs in

Bohemian Forest and the Berounka arises at the junction of the Mže and the

Radbuza.

The Vltava itself is bridged by 17 bridges in Prague, the oldest of them is a

great landmark. Which one is it?

Islands - there are many islands on the Vltava river. The biggest are Štvanice

island, Střelecký island and Rowing island.

Lakes – Hostivař pond, Džbán pond and Olšanský fish pond.

Hills –Letná, Petřín (327 metres above sea level). On Petřín there is a famous

Prague symbol – Petřín watchtower and also the famous Great Strahov

stadium, where well known communist shows were held.

Prague itself is one of 14th Regions of the Czech republic.

Parliament buildingsThe Parliament of the Czech Republic consist of two chambers – the Senate

and the Chamber of Deputies.

The Parliament buildings are registered as National Historic Landmark.

Senate buildings are the Wallenstein Palace, Kolowrat Palace, Small

Fürstenberg Palace and Wallenstein Hippodrome.

The Wallenstein Palace was commissioned since 1623 to 1630 by Albrecht

Vaclav Eusebius, one of the most powerful and wealthiest Czech noblemen

from the post-White Mountain era.

The Kolowrat Palace was commissioned after 1784 by Marie Barbora,

Countess Cernin of Chudenice, and her husband Herman Jakub, Count Cernin

of Chudenice. This Palace was built in late Baroque style.

The Wallenstein Palace

The Kolowrat Palace

The Small Fürstenberg Palace

Parliament buildingsThe Small Fürstenberg Palace – built in 16th century, Baroque style.

The buildings of the Chamber of Deputies are the Thun Palace, the Sternberg

Palace, the Smiricky Palace and the Tomáškův Palace.

The Thun Palace – built in Baroque style at the turn of the 17th and 18th

century.

The Sternberg Palace – one of the world‘s most important Baroque landmarks

in the Czech Republic. Possible architects are Giovanni Battista Alliprandi,

Christopher Dientzenhofer or John Blažej Santini – Aichel.

The Smiricky Palace – built in Renaissance style, on 22nd May 1618 an

important meeting, where it was decided about the second Defenestration of

Prague, took place here.

The Thun Palace

The Sternberg Palace

The Smiricky Palace

MuseumsNational Museum – consists of five parts: Natural History Museum, Historical

Museum, National Museum Library, Náprstek Museum and Czech Museum of

Music. The most important museum of the Czech Republic. Architect Josef

Schulz. The building has been under reconsruction since 2011.

National Technical Museum – most exhibits come from the Czech territory.

The most interesting exhibits are astronomical gadgets from the 16th century,

which Tycho de Brahe worked with, or the first Czechoslovak car.

Jewish Museum – was established in 1906. There are for example spiritual

objects, tapestries or old papers.

Sex Machines Museum

The National Museum

Interiors of the National Museum

HistoryThe legend says that princess Libuše established the city where a man who

lived in a forest was nailing down a door sill (práh) - from here comes name

Prague.

Historians say that Prague was named after a barrage, where merchants were

crossing the Vltava River.

In 9th century duke Bořivoj I. commissioned the second Christian church in

Bohemia, on the place where is the Prague Castle located nowadays – the

origin of the Prague Castle.

During the reign of Charles IV. Prague became an empire and the centre of

the market. In 1348 New Town was established.

During the Second World War the most of Prague Jews was transported to

concentration camps.

In 1989 the Velvet Revolution took place there.

ParksLetná Orchands, Vojan Park, Rieger Gardens, Kampa, Vyšehrad, Bertramka

There are more than 200 parks in the whole Prague.

Prague ZOO – Moja, the first gorilla born in captivity in the Czech Republic,

was born there.

Cemeteries

Olšany Cemetery, Vyšehrad Cemetery (Slavín) – many famous Czech people

are buried there. For example Antonín Dvořák, Božena Němcová, Bedřich

Smetana, Jan Palach, Ladislav Smoljak, Jiří Voskovec , Jan Werich.

Olšany is the biggest necropolis in Prague. Their area is 50ha.

The Old Jewish Cemetery – Rabbi Löw is buried there.

Vyšehrad Cemetery (Slavín)

Others

Music clubs – Karlovy Lázně – a great five-store music club near Charles

Bridge

Zlatý Strom, Popocafepetl, Lávka, Kamikaze Club

Pubs – U Vejvodů, U Medvídků, U Fleků

Shopping centres – Shopping Centre Chodov, Shopping Centre Letňany,

Palladium and Akrády Pankrác

These clubs, pubs and shopping centres are really worth visiting.

U Vejvodů

Prague specialityPrague language - a kind of non-literary language. It takes very long time to say

a simple sentence. Demonstration: „ Hele nechtěl bys voloupat vokurku?“ „Jó

to by bylo súpr.“

Standard language: „Chceš oloupat okurku?“ „Jo.“

My experience from a visit to Prague

For me the most interesting moment of our visit to Prague was a visit to

Vyšehrad Cemetery. It was very impressive to stand in front of the graves of

Czech giants, whom Bedřich Smetana or Antonín Dvořák undoubtedly were.

Another great experience was definitely watching play Richard III. in

Stavovske Theatre with Richard Krajčo as the main character. His

performance was simply awesome.

My opinions

I fell in love with Prague a few years earlier, when I came there for the first

time. It is a city where I would like to study and also live in the future. There

are much more work opportunities and also the salaries are higher. I love the

historical look of this city and I think that I’m not the only one. Everything

you can imagine is in there.

On the other hand, the prices of everything are really higher than for

example in Ostrava. If you want to enjoy everything what Prague offers you

have to earn quite a lot. There also live too many people who cause problems

with traffic and during the rush hours there are huge traffic jams.

Questions

The New Town was established in 1348. Do you know any other buildings or

institutes established that year?

Name at least two of the Senate buildings.

Do you know the new exhibit of the Natinal Technical Museum, which was

made in Kopřivnice?

How many famous Czechs buried at Vyšehrad Cemetery can you think of?

What is the name of the first gorilla born in Prague ZOO?