Prague

Prague (in Czech, Praha, pronounced/ clockpraise/( listen)in German, Prag, pronounced/p/a devotedk/( listen)) is the capital of the Czech Republic and the Bohemia region. Located on the banks of the River Moldava, it has approximately 1.2 million inhabitants, making it the most populous city in the country and the seventh in Central Europe. The metropolitan area of Prague has a population of 1.9 million. Its beauty and historical heritage make it one of the world's 20 most visited cities.

Prague was founded at the end of the IX century, becoming one of the most important capitals of Europe in the XVIII and XIX. Former capital of the Kingdom of Bohemia and Czechoslovakia, in the 20th century it suffered the effects of the two world wars and the dictatorship Nazi. After the second war it was within the sphere of Soviet influence. After the Velvet Revolution and the fall of the Berlin Wall, the city has been adapting to the market economy. Prague, whose historic center was declared a World Heritage Site in 1992, is considered an "Alpha - class" global city, on a par with Boston, Vienna or Munich.

Etymology

According to legends Princess Libuše saw many prophecies from her castle Libušín, which is located in the center of Bohemia. In a prophecy, she was told, she foresaw the glory of Prague. One day she had a vision:

I see a great city, whose glory the stars touch! I see a place in the middle of a forest where a steep cliff rises over the river Moldava. There's a man, who's the house's threshold work. A castle called Prague (Praha) that was built there. Just as the princes and dukes bow before a threshold, they will bow to the castle to the city and around it. He will be honored, privileged with great renown and praise throughout the world.

Other historians claim that the name of the capital comes from the Slavic word Prga, which means "toasted flour", due to the aridity of the place chosen to build Prague Castle.

Lastly, some believe that the origin is the Czech word Prahy, which means "rapids", from the rapids of the Vltava River, on whose banks the city sits.

History

Prehistory and Antiquity

The first remains on the site of today's Prague date back to the Paleolithic. transform:lowercase">VI a. C. was established south of present-day Prague. The town was called Závist. Later this tribe was replaced by the Germanic people and later by the Slavs, who remained from the IV century, although for a period they were dominated by the Avars.

Middle Ages

Libuše and Přemysl, legendary founders of the city.

It was founded in the last part of the IX century with the construction of the castle on the right bank of the Vltava River. According to legend by Libuše, who later married Přemysl and started the Přemyslida dynasty. This castle is known as Vyšehrad and is not the current Prague Castle, which was built on the opposite side of the river.

Prague soon became the seat of Bohemian kings, some of whom reigned as Holy Roman Emperors. In the 13th century King Otakar II founded the Malá Strana neighborhood (small side), which is located on the opposite side of the river.

The city flourished during the XIV century under the reign of Carlos IV, who ordered the construction of the New City, united the urban centers on both banks of the river through the famous Charles Bridge (which replaces an earlier bridge from the 12th century that collapsed in 1342) and led to the construction of the first University in Central Europe. In the 15th century, due to unrest political and religious between Jan Hus and King Sigismund developed the Hussite wars.

Modern Age

Bohemia became part of the Habsburg domain in 1526, making Prague the capital of an Austrian province. At the beginning of the 17th century the election of Ferdinand II, a Catholic, as King of Bohemia caused anger among the bohemian nobles, of confession Protestant. When Ferdinand II sent two Catholic councilors to prepare for his arrival in Prague, they were kidnapped and thrown out of a castle window, known as the Defenestration of Prague. These events led to the Thirty Years' War, whose main consequence was the sovereignty of the German provinces, despite remaining under the German Empire.

18th and 19th centuries

Prague at the end of the centuryXVIII

In the 18th century and first half of the XIX, Prague enjoyed great economic growth, which attracted merchants and nobles from all over Europe. The city developed rapidly and churches and palaces were built, many in the new Baroque style.

During Austro-Hungarian rule, in the 19th century it became the center of Czech nationalism and its cultural and intellectual activity it was brilliant, building the National Museum, the State Theater and the Rudolfinum.

20th and 21st centuries

In 1918, as a consequence of World War I, Czechoslovakia was founded, and the new president of the republic Tomáš Masaryk made Prague the seat of his government and the capital of the Czech state. Between 1939 and 1945 Hitler's army occupied Prague. The city, hitherto multi-ethnic, witnessed the Nazi persecution of the Jewish people. Many were captured and sent to concentration camps, where most were exterminated. In 1945 the US army bombed the city, mistaking it for Dresden, causing the fury of the Czechs. A few days later the Soviet army liberated the city and the Czech citizens took revenge into their own hands, causing the death of citizens of German origin.

After World War II, Czechoslovakia became part of the communist bloc, under the protection of the Soviet Union. In 1968 the Prague Spring broke out, a movement that sought to reform the immobile Soviet socialism, which was harshly repressed with the invasion of the Warsaw Pact armies.

The revolution of Terciopelo caused the fall of the communist regime.

In December 1988, Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev announced the so-called Sinatra Doctrine, which stated that the Brezhnev Doctrine would be abandoned and that Eastern European countries could do as they saw fit. At the end of 1989, with the fall of the Berlin Wall, Prague abandoned socialism. Prague was the center of the Velvet Revolution that led to the fall of communism in the country. The validity of the Sinatra doctrine contributed to accelerate the changes that ended up causing the collapse of the pro-Soviet socialist governments in Eastern Europe at the end of 1989 and early 1990s. The now new pro-Western governments in Eastern Europe were fervent supporters of the early dissolution of the Warsaw Pact and Comecon. The official dissolution of the Warsaw Pact ended up being peacefully accepted by the Soviet Union and was formalized at the Prague meeting on July 1, 1991.

Two years later, in 1993, the dissolution of Czechoslovakia and its division into the Czech Republic and Slovakia were peacefully decided. Prague became the capital of the Czech Republic, as stipulated in the country's Constitution. In September 2000, the Prague protests against globalization during the International Monetary Fund and World Bank summit led to an urban guerrilla against police. More than 15,000 protesters took part in one of the largest protests in history against globalization and capitalism. In August 2002 the Vltava River overflowed its banks with a flow over 5100 m³/s causing serious damage to the city, which took two years to recover.

Geography

Location

Overview of the city

Prague is located in the heart of Europe, less than 500 kilometers from the Baltic, North and Adriatic seas. Its coordinates are 50 degrees north latitude and 14 degrees east longitude. It belongs to Central Bohemia and occupies mainly the region of Poberounská soustava and in its extreme northeast a small part of the area of Česká tabule.

Within the Czech Republic, the city of Prague lies slightly northwest of the country's geographic center. Erosion and sedimentation processes on both banks of the Vltava River are the main causes of the relief of the city. Around the river and its tributaries there are relatively steep slopes that end in the form of a plain when reaching a certain height. Steep slopes occur on the west bank of the Vltava. The maximum altitude of the city is 399 meters, in the Zličín neighborhood, to the west of the city, and the minimum altitude is 177 meters at the northern edge of the city, where the river leaves it. Therefore the maximum difference in altitude is 222 meters in a relatively small area.

Hydrography

Pass of the river Moldava through the city

The Vltava River (Vltava in Czech) runs through Prague, dividing the city from south to north. The Vltava is a very mighty river, even more than the Elbe River (Labe in Czech), despite the fact that it is a tributary of the latter.

Climate

Street with snow in February.

The climate of Prague is continental. The average annual temperature is 8-9 degrees Celsius. The winter is rigorous although not excessively severe and relatively dry, with the average temperature in the winter months being approximately zero degrees.

Spring is cool at the beginning and becomes warm and humid as summer approaches, reaching 16-17 degrees in June on average and exceeding 70 mm of precipitation. Summer is not excessively hot, slightly exceeding 18 degrees on average in the months of July and August, although it is common to exceed 25 degrees. Rainfall peaks in July and begins to decrease in August.

Autumn in Prague is mild and moderately dry, with rainfall similar to that of winter and spring, although November is quite cold, averaging less than three degrees Celsius.

Average climate parameters of Prague (1961–1990)
Month	Ene.	Feb.	Mar.	Open up.	May.	Jun.	Jul.	Ago.	Sep.	Oct.	Nov.	Dec.	Annual
Temp. max. abs. (°C)	17.3	18.5	22.5	30.7	32.8	37.2	37.8	36.8	33.1	27.0	19.5	17.4	37.8
Average temperature (°C)	0.4	2.7	7.7	13.3	18.3	21.4	23.3	23.0	19.0	13.1	6.0	2.0	12.5
Average temperature (°C)	−2.0	−0.6	3.1	7.6	12.5	15.6	17.1	16.6	13.2	8.3	3.0	−0.2	7.9
Temp. medium (°C)	−5.4	−4.0	−1.0	2.6	7.1	10.5	11.9	11.7	8.7	4.3	0.2	−3.3	3.6
Temp. min. abs. (°C)	−27.5	−27.1	−27.6	−8.0	−1.6	3.6	7.9	6.4	0.7	−7.5	−16.9	−24.8	−27.6
Total precipitation (mm)	23.5	22.6	28.1	38.2	77.2	72.7	66.2	69.6	40.0	30.5	31.9	25.3	525.8
Nevadas (cm)	17.9	15.9	10.3	2.9	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.1	8.4	15.9	71.4
Precipitation days (≥ 1 mm)	6.8	5.6	6.2	7.3	9.8	10.3	9.1	8.8	7.0	5.5	7.0	6.8	90.2
Hours of sun	50.0	72.4	124.7	167.6	214.0	218.3	226.2	212.3	161.0	120.8	53.9	46.7	1667.9
Relative humidity (%)	85	82	76	70	70	71	70	72	77	81	85	85	77
Source No. 1: World Meteorological Organization
Source No. 2: NOAA

Demographics

At the beginning of the XX century, population growth continued, reaching 850,000 inhabitants in 1930. One of the The reasons were the independence of the Czech Republic and the designation of Prague as the capital of the new State, as well as the absorption of the municipalities adjacent to the capital in 1922 (37 municipalities that added more than 430,000 inhabitants).

Prague has a population of approximately 1,200,000, which is just over 10% of the country's population. The city experienced a population explosion during the 19th century due to its economic and cultural flourishing. If we include the suburbs that were not then part of Prague, the population rose from just over 157,000 in 1850 to over 500,000 in 1900.

The first expansion of the city occurred in 1850 when Prague absorbed the municipality of Josefov. In 1883 and 1884 two new municipalities were integrated and another in 1901.

New extensions were carried out 1960 (3 municipalities), 1968 (25 municipalities that added about 70,000 citizens), 1974 (37 municipalities and about 65,000 inhabitants), and in 1987 and 1988 the last two extensions came (Černý Most and Kamýk), which added another 30,000 inhabitants. Since then it grew moderately until the 1980s, and from that moment the population has stabilized.

Prague's population is aging at a faster rate than the rest of the country, due to the immigration of citizens of working age and the declining birth rate. In this way, the percentage of inhabitants of retirement age has not grown in recent years.

Economic prosperity at the beginning of the XXI century with the opening to the European Union, the installation of new multinationals and the higher wages have attracted the productive population from the rest of the country. It has also caused an increase in immigration, although the percentage of foreigners is still moderate. According to data from the year 2006, 8.77% of the population of Prague was foreign. Analyzing the country of origin, the Ukrainians stand out, who represent 34.3% of the immigrants, the Slovaks, who represent 15.7% and the Russians, who are 9.5% of foreigners.

Government

Capital

The Czech Constitution, approved by 172 votes out of 198 total by the Czech Parliament, on December 16, 1992, establishes that the capital of the Czech state is Prague. The city was previously the capital of the kingdom of Bohemia in the Middle Ages and from 1918 until the creation of the new Czech state it was the capital of Czechoslovakia.

Wallenstein Palace, seat of the Senate of the Czech Republic.

As the capital of the State, Prague is the residence of the President of the Republic, as well as the seat of the two chambers of Parliament: the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate.

Local government

According to the Act of the Czech National Council of the Capital City of Prague of the year 2000 the city forms a city-state. This implies that several of the powers of the state are transferred to the city.

The top leader of the capital is the mayor. The city is administered by three entities: The Prague City Assembly, made up of 70 representatives, the Prague City Council, made up of 11 Assembly members, and the Prague City Council. Elections are held every 4 years. The Prague City Council, with its corresponding departments and sections, houses the executive branch of the city.

The current mayor of Prague is Tomáš Hudeček, from the TOP 09 party. He was first elected in 2013.

Political-administrative organization

Administrative map of Prague.

Since 2001, Prague has been administratively divided into 22 districts, which are numbered from 1 to 22. On the signs where the names of the streets appear, you can see the number of the district to which the road belongs. In turn, these 22 districts are divided into 57 municipalities, of which only 4 belong to historical Prague (Staré Město, Nové Město, Malá Strana and Hradčany). Each of them has its own elected representatives and powers:

Economy

Conference center of the city of Prague, in the neighborhood of Vyšehrad.

The official currency of the country is the Czech crown (Česká Koruna), which is divided into 100 hellers (haléř). Its abbreviations are Kč. and h, respectively.

Prague's GDP per capita is more than double that of the Czech Republic. It reached $38,400 (PPP) in 2006, which is more than 50% above the European Union average for that year. This places it as the eleventh richest region in the Union. Prague is the economic center of the country. In addition to being the country's capital, most financial institutions and transnational corporations are based in the city. These, among other reasons, make it possible for Prague to account for about 25% of Czech GDP. However, GDP growth in Prague has been lower than the national average since 2001.

Trade

Skyscrapers in the Pankrác district

Prague has been able to absorb both the national and international workforce attracted by the city's prosperity. In the year 2001, Prague concentrated approximately 20% of the job vacancies in the Czech Republic, which is especially significant when compared to the little more than 10% that the population of Prague represents over the total population. The number of workers was 726,000 while the city's workforce was just 600,000 span>. The unemployment rate in Prague is about half that of the country. Its central position in Europe, in addition to a lower price level than Western Europe, contribute to many international companies choosing it as its European headquarters.

The sectoral distribution of the city follows a marked trend towards the tertiary sector. In 2006, 82% of the added value created in the city was due to the services sector. On the other side of the scale is the industrial sector, whose weight is significantly lower than that of the rest of the country. Another sector that has grown in the first decade of the XXI century is construction, with more than a 50% increase between 2001 and 2006 in terms of property value the houses built.

Since the Velvet Revolution, the city has capitalized on its architectural beauty in the tourism sector. In 2005, 6.4 million tourists visited the Czech Republic, of which a large majority passed through Prague. More than 90% of hotel beds were occupied by foreign tourists. However, only 41% of hotel beds available was found in four or five star hotels in 2006.

Education

Historical building of the University of Carolina

Prague is home to the country's leading universities. In 2006, it had ten university centers and thirty-eight faculties, in which 87,500 students were enrolled, in addition to 11,500 pursuing postgraduate studies. It also had a large number of secondary schools, among which those of grammar and technical studies stand out. Among the universities, the prestigious Carolina University stands out, the oldest in Central Europe.

Statistics point to the good level of education in Prague. In 2001, 56% of the population had completed secondary studies, which places Prague among the first ranked according to this indicator. Regarding the population that has university studies, the percentage drops to 12%, so Prague falls several places in the ranking, but it is still ahead of most European cities. 39% of the population under four years of age attend a preschool.

Culture

The historic centre of Prague has been a World Heritage Site since 1992

Traditionally Prague has been one of the most important cultural centers of Central Europe. After the fall of communism, it recovered its tradition and celebrates hundreds of events such as film, music or literature festivals. The theatrical and operatic activity of the city presents an enormous offer throughout the year. The Black Theatre, the National Theater in Prague and the National Ballet Theater are some of the most famous cultural attractions.

Architecture

Architecture variety: Komerční banka, Torre de la Pólvora and Casa municipal.

Rainer Maria Rilke describes his hometown as an "epic poem of architecture." It presents an exceptional architectural heritage, a consequence of its rich history that allows it to have great representations of various architectural styles.

The neighborhoods of Staré Město, Malá Strana and Hradčany are home to palaces of great artistic value. As early as the X century, Prague was an important trading center. At that time there was a bishopric, two large convents and a Jewish community that lived in stone houses. In the XIII century stone began to be used for large constructions in the XIV, thanks to the influence of King Charles IV, a studied design of Prague developed using mainly the Gothic style that made it a beautiful city and a political-cultural center of Europe. From this period are the building of the Archbishopric and the Cathedral of San Vito. With the Habsburgs came the renaissance with constructions as original as the Mansion of the Star and as beautiful as the Palace of the Schwarzenberg Family or the House of the Minute. After the Thirty Years' War came a period of decline to be reborn under the influence of the Baroque, with such interesting samples as the Summer Residence of the Sternberken Troja Family or the Clam-Gallas Palace.

Medieval architecture

St. George's Basilica.

The city has several notable testimonies of medieval architecture. Romanesque remains are rare: if in the XII century each neighborhood had its church and its beautiful limestone residences, thus Only the vaulted cellars of later buildings remain, as the ground level was raised in the 13th century against flooding. However, the Old Town Palace, also called the House of the Lords of Kunštát and Poděbrady, is one of the most beautiful testimonials, along with St. George's Basilica, a masterpiece of Romanesque art built around 920 and rebuilt in the 12th century. Also add the three roundabouts, Sainte-Croix, Saint-Martin and Saint-Longin

The convent of Santa Inés is one of the oldest witnesses of Gothic architecture, probably arriving from Burgundy around 1230, shortly before the construction of the Old-New Synagogue. Under the reign of Charles IV of Luxembourg (1346-1378), later Emperor, and his son Wenceslaus IV (r. 1363-1419), the city flourished. The foundation stone of St. Vitus Cathedral was laid on the Hradschin Hill, the Charles Bridge spans the Vltava for more than 500 m, the former Romanesque fortress it was replaced by a vast Gothic royal complex, all within the framework of a concerted urban planning project, undoubtedly one of the most ambitious and important in medieval Europe.

"Stone Bridge" until 1870, the Charles Bridge is the emblem of the city and is its most famous Gothic work. Damaged several times, especially in 1890 when three arches collapsed, it is surrounded by three towers. The first of them, known as the Old City, completed around 1380, has had multiple uses, both symbolic and defensive; the others, located in Malá Strana, date from 1130 for the oldest and 1464 for the most recent, known as the high tower. Charles Bridge houses an authentic statuary: thirty statues and groups of sculptures, mostly Baroque, adorn each pylon. Most are, therefore, after the construction of the bridge by around three centuries, between the XVII and centuries. ="font-variant:small-caps;text-transform:lowercase">XVIII. They are the result of commissions from institutions, religious orders or even individuals. The most famous of them represents Saint John Nepomucene, a martyr thrown from the bridge in 1393.

• Medieval architecture in Prague
• 

  Rotonda Saint-Martin

• 

  Puente Carlos

• 

  Torres de Malá Strana

• 

  Golden Gate of the Cathedral (detail)

Renaissance and Baroque architecture

• Renaissance architecture in Prague
• 

  Room Vladislav

• 

  Belvedere of Queen Anne

• 

  South Tower of the Cathedral (detail)

• 

  Schwarzenberg Palace.

• 

  Schwarzenberg Palace (detail)

The Vladislas Hall of Prague Castle, the work of the architect Benedikt Rejt, bears witness to the passage between Gothic and Renaissance architecture, with its Gothic vaults, interlacings and buttresses associated with large windows typical of the Renaissance. This style became more autonomous with the construction of the Queen Anne belvedere, begun in 1535: a harmonious building surrounded by arcades, in an ensemble typical of northern Italian architecture. Under the reign of Emperor Rudolf II, who installed his court in Prague in 1583 in the face of the advancing Ottomans, the city became a major artistic center. More visible in painting and sculpture, this Renaissance influence is also felt in architecture, particularly through the aristocracy that adopted this new style for the construction or renovation of their palaces: thus, the Gothic facades of Malá Strana were adorned with ornaments Renaissance before the emergence of a typically bohemian style based on tall pinions, sgraffito and scrolls, the ideal example of which is the Schwarzenberg Palace, whose construction spanned from 1545 to 1573. It stands out, in addition to its proportions and its integration into the place. from Hradčany, for its jagged pediments, its Italian-style cornice decorated with lunettes or its black and white sgraffito decoration imitating diamond-point patterns.

Although deeply marked by Baroque architecture, Prague only saw this artistic movement take hold belatedly. The imperial court resisted and the political context slowed down such artistic development: the Battle of the White Mountain —and more generally the Thirty Years War— are part of a period of forced and violent re-Catholicization with which the Baroque is strongly linked. associated and therefore rejected. However, it gradually caught on and blended with local architectural traditions. Palaces, convents and churches are boldly rearranged; Artists from all over Europe come to join this movement. Around 1700, the Bohemian Baroque reached its zenith. Their testimonies are, chronologically, the Church of San Salvador del Clementinum; the castle's Matías door (1614); the Wallenstein palace that mixes Renaissance and baroque and its earthly room; Černín Palace; or the castle of Troja, whose inspiration is more French than Italian, unlike previous works.

Interior of the Church of St. Nicholas

Baroque triumphed at the end of the 17th century with the construction of the Church of Saint Nicholas in Malá Strana, one of the largest Baroque churches in Central Europe with a 74 m high dome. A late Baroque masterpiece, Saint Nicholas is identified in the city by its bell tower and its dome of the same height but which offers an asymmetrical and contrasting perspective; The interior of the building is spectacular, theatrical - just as the Jesuits conceived the encouragement of faith - to the point of becoming oppressive: the church is full of frescoes, statues, moldings, gilding, paintings, including a 1500 m², the Apotheosis of Saint Nicholas by Johann Lukas Kracker, one of the most important in the world. The Gardens under the Castle, a complex of five terraced Baroque gardens, extend to the top of Hradčany Hill: Ledebour Gardens, Large and Small Palffy Gardens, Kolowrat and Fürstenberg Gardens. Formerly used for growing vines and orchards, these thirty terraces were gradually conditioned in the shadow of the palaces that were built there at the end of the century XVII. They offer views of the city, in the middle of flower beds and intertwining plants, fountains, statues... communicating through their 22 flights of stairs.

• Baroque architecture in Prague
• 

  Church of San Salvador

• 

  Wallenstein Palace

• 

  Černín Palace

• 

  Church of St. Nicholas

Modern architecture

The 19th century was marked by the Czech National Renaissance which was accompanied by the construction of majestic buildings in historicist styles. If the neoclassical (State Theatre, 1783) or Empire (Dům U Hybernů Theatre, 1811) styles left their mark, it will be above all the neo-Renaissance architecture that has been acclaimed by supporters of the national leap since 1860. The National Theater (1868-1881), whose foundation stone was laid in 1868, opened on June 11, 1881 with the opera Libuše by Bedřich Smetana; burned down soon after, it was rebuilt in record time and reopened in 1883; designed by Josef Zítek (1832-1909), it is decorated by a cohort of Czech artists, known as the "National Theater Generation", including Josef Václav Myslbek, Mikoláš Aleš, Václav Brožík, Vojtěch Hynais or František Ženíšek. Josef Schultz, who rebuilt the theater, is the designer of the National Museum in Prague (1885-1891), also richly decorated with allegories and national symbols. Other less monumental constructions followed, such as the Museum of Decorative Arts (1897-1899), also the work of Schultz, the House of Artists and the National Theater. This unique style developed intensely with the country's Memorial Fair in 1891, which resulted in the cast-iron Pavilion that Prince Hanavsky had built, the Holešovice Industrial Palace and the Hill Viewpoint.

Private architecture should not be left behind: the headquarters of the Živnostenská bank or the Wiehl house on Wenceslas Square. As for the neo-Gothic style, it is also in the spotlight through the intermediation of the architect Josef Mocker to whom, in addition to the completion of Saint Vitus Cathedral, the reconstruction of the Gunpowder Tower is due. The architecture Neo-Romanesque is also present, for example, with the Church of Saints Cyril and Methodius built in the mid-XIX century.

• Architecture of the centuryXIX in Prague
• 

  Gunpowder Tower, almost entirely rebuilt in 1876 by Josef Mocker

• 

  Prague State Theatre, where the opera was premiered Don Giovanni, composed and directed by Mozart, in 1787

• 

  National Museum of Prague (1885-1891), by Josef Schulz

• 

  Museum of Decorative Arts (1897-1899), by Josef Schulz

• 

  National Theatre (1868-1881), by Josef Zítek

• 

  Wiehl House.

Beginning in the 1890s, the Art Nouveau movement—called the Secession in Prague and in the Austro-Hungarian Empire more generally—developed in counterpoint to the then-dominant historical styles. Its fluid lines, its undulating shapes, its organic motifs favor a rich ornamentation, as shown by many buildings and their mosaics, stuccoes, ironwork... The great Grand Hotel Evropa (1903-1905), the central station, the U Nováků casino stand out., Villa Bílek and especially the Municipal House (1905-1912), in whose construction Mucha worked (to whom the stained glass windows of the cathedral are also due). Finally, the Jan Hus monument in the Old Town Square is also an example of the Prague Secession style, made by Ladislav Šaloun.

• Art Nouveau Architecture in Prague
• 

  Grand hotel Evropa (1903-1905)

• 

  U Nováků Building

• 

  Municipal House (1905-1912)

• 

  Municipal House (detail).

From 1910, Art Nouveau lost its exuberance as shown in Jan Kotěra's 1913 Mozarteum. Cubism developed in the same period, in a typically Czech version, whose first realization was the House of the Black Madonna (1911-1912), the work of Josef Gočár and which today houses the Museum of Cubism. Other examples by the architect Josef Chochol are in Vyšehrad, in the triangle formed by the Rašín quay, Libušina street and Neklanova street, at the foot of the Vyšehrad hill. Although difficult, the precepts of cubism are applied to architecture, for example, by resorting to diamond-shaped patterns (Maison Diamant, 1913). Likewise, the 1920s saw the rise of a typically bohemian architectural movement, the rondocubism, whose most famous examples are the Adria Palace (1925) and the Bank of the Czechoslovak Legions (1932). This movement sought to integrate typically Slavic values and symbols, starting with the colors red and white and using cylindrical shapes that are supposed to resemble wooden logs, themselves referring to Slavic wooden architecture.

• Cubist and rondocubist architecture in Prague
• 

  Casa de la Madona Negra (1911-1912)

• 

  Villa Kovařovicova, Libušina Street

• 

  Maison Diamant

• 

  Adria Palace

• 

  Czechoslovak Legion Bank

• 

  Building on Kamenická Street

However, Rondocubism was quickly abandoned, criticized for its nationalist approach and excessively decorative and superficial appearance. Very quickly, modern materials (glass, steel, concrete) gained acclaim and functionalism took pride of place in the capital. The political and economic situation in Czechoslovakia at that time favored its development. Inaugurated in 1928, the Palace of Fairs and Exhibitions (Veletržní palác) remains today one of the most beautiful examples of this style from the beginnings of modern architecture and would have greatly impressed Le Corbusier for its purity of its lines and its volumes. Then follow the Bat'a store in Wenceslao Square (1929), the Retreat Institute in Churchill Square, the subdivision in the Baba district —a unique set of about thirty functionalist villas, built between 1928 and 1940—, the Barrandov terraces or the Villa Müller. This one, built by the Moravian Adolf Loos —famous theoretician, enemy of all artificial ornamentation and precursor of modern architecture— where he put into practice the concept of raumplan where space is not simply divided into pieces in different floors but in cubes, each space being divided into several levels. This functionalist movement is closely linked to the avant-garde art group of Devětsil.

Religious architecture is not far from this modern movement. For example, the Church of the Sacred Heart in Vinohrady, built between 1928 and 1932 by the Slovenian Jože Plečnik. Although it is inspired by the floor plans of early Christian basilicas, it is a modern building due to its hall-like appearance and interior style, as well as its 7,6 glass clock m in diameter. Likewise, the Church of St. Wenceslaus (1929-1930) in Vršovice is one of the most famous functionalist achievements in the country. Constructivist-inspired, it is the work of Josef Gočár. Inaugurated in 1930, this reinforced concrete church makes great use of the slope of the place with its stepped roof; As for its 80 m high bell tower, it seems to be the Prague lighthouse. Note that the Hussite Church of Vinohrady, next to the previous one, is also a classic of Czechoslovak functionalist architecture. Designed by Pavel Janák, it consists of a ceremonial hall, an apartment building and a concrete campanile. Finally, the Cloister of Emmaus, monastery of the Slavic Brothers, is to a lesser extent a testimony of modernism applied to religious architecture. Founded in 1347, the monastery was partially destroyed by bombardment on February 14, 1945. The building's roof and bell towers were rebuilt in the 1960s by the architect František Maria Černý: it was decided not to rebuild but to create a new asymmetrical roof of white concrete. This one has four meter arrows, golden, both culminating at 52 m.

After World War II and the communist takeover of the country, socialist realism in architecture experienced a brief glory during the 1950s, the only remnant of which is the International Hotel, a typical Stalinist skyscraper. The touch of grace for the functionalist architecture sounded with the development of the great peripheral complexes, made of prefabricated panels. Since the fall of the communist regime, few modern buildings have shown remarkable audacity. Mention should be made of the famous office building called the Dancing House (1992-1996), a deconstructivist work by Frank Gehry.

• Contemporary architecture in Prague
• 

  Veletržní palác.

• 

  Veletržní palác.

• 

  Villa Müller.

• 

  Church of the Sacred Heart (1922-1932), work of Jože Plečnik

• 

  Église Saint-Venceslas.

• 

  Cloître Emmaüs.

• 

  Casa Danzante

• 

  Dancer House (detail)

Museums

Interior of the National Museum

Interior of the National Gallery

Spanish synagogue, part of the Jewish Museum.

There are several hundred museums in Prague. Among the most important are:

• National MuseumNarodní Muzeum) is one of the main museums in Prague. It occupies a Neo-Renaissance building on the top of Wenceslao Square, the main building in the city. Its central lobby also serves as a pantheon of the great Czechs. It was founded in 1818 as the Patriotic Museum of Bohemia. In 1848 it takes the name of Czech Museum, and from 1854 to 1919 the Royal Czech Museum. The building occupied by the museum is the work of Josef Schulz, the architect of the National Theatre of Prague, built at the same time (1885-1890). It presents collections on the prehistory of Bohemia, Moravia and Slovakia, as well as on mineralogy, litology, paleontology, osteology, anthropology, zoology, collection of decorations and medals. This is distributed in the city between the historic building of Wenceslao Square and its counterpart on Vinohrady Street and nine other places, namely, the Czech Museum of Music, the Vojtěch Náprstek Museum of Asia, Africa and America cultures, the Ethnographic Museum, the Vítkov Memorial, the Dvořák Museum, the Smetana Memorial Museum, the Lapida
• National Gallery of Prague, showing the graphic arts. After the Louvre, it is the oldest art gallery in Europe, which brings together Czech and international works. The exhibition halls of the National Gallery are located in several buildings: the convent of Santa Inés de Bohemia, dedicated to the medieval arts of Bohemia and Central Europe, until the centuryXVI; the Kinský Palace; the Salm Palace; the Schwarzenberg Palace; the Sternberg Palace, with European art from Antiquity to the Baroque; the Wallenstein Palace; and the Palace of Fairs and Exhibitions, with modern and contemporary art.
• Jewish Museum, actually a set of different buildings within the old ghetto of Josefov. It was founded in 1906 by Hugo Lieben and Augustin Stein for the conservation of valuable objects of the Prague synagogues. During the Nazi occupation and the communist regime, the museum was very limited in its functions (Hitler wishing to make Prague the "museum of the missing race", then accumulated collections now inherited). Since 1994, it recovered and expanded its original status. It has one of the largest collections of Jewish art in the world, including some 40 000 pieces museum and 100 000 books. The museum includes visits to the Maisel, Spanish, Pinkas and Klaus synagogues, to the former Jewish cemetery, to the Ceremony Hall of the Funeral Society and the Jewish cemetery of Žižkov.
• Alfons Mucha Museum, near the Municipal House, which collects more than 100 works or objects related to Alfons Mucha, Czech painter, emblematic of Art nouveau.
• Franz Kafka Museum which houses the first editions of his books, as well as personal and audiovisual correspondence from the writer.
• Museum of Sexual Machines
• Toy Museum, located in Prague Castle.
• Kampa museum, from a private collection that exposes contemporary artists, allows the visitor to discover, among others, František Kupka, one of the creators of abstraction at the beginning of the centuryXX. or Otto Gutfreund, author of the first cubist sculpture.
• Casa de la Madona Negra, belonging to the Museum of Decorative Arts, presents works and objects of Czech Cubism.
• Furthermore, the Museum of the City of Prague, the house of Mozart, the National Museum of Techniques, the Museum of Communism or the Museum of the Army.

• Visitable works in praga museums
• 

  Fiesta del RosarioAlbrecht Dürer is part of the collections of the National Gallery

• 

  The young, Gustav Klimt (1913) (National Gallery)

• 

  kinetic head of Franz Kafka, work of David Černý (2014)

• 

  Babiesat the Kampa Museum

Music

Prague has a long musical history. What was one of the cultural capitals of Europe in the 18th and XIX preserves its musical tradition.

The city organizes classical music concerts throughout the year. The settings are varied, from old churches to beautiful auditoriums such as the Smetana Hall, home of the Prague Symphony Orchestra located, in an art-nouveau building at Republiky 5, the Palace of Culture and the Dvorak Hall (in the Rudolfinum, Plaza Jan Palach), headquarters of the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra located in a neoclassical building where the opening and closing ceremony is held, especially the famous Prague Spring Festival between May 12 and the first days of June. Concerts are also held regularly in the National Gallery of Prague Castle, in the gardens at the foot of the Castle, and in the National Museum on Wenceslas Square. The concerts at the Villa Bertramka at Mozartova 169, Smichov, usually have Mozart and his contemporaries as protagonists.

Musicians in the Rudolfinum

The old churches are the setting where you can enjoy the Organ Music Festival that takes place in August. The best programs are those offered at the Cathedral of Saint Vitus in Hradcany; U Krízovníku, near the Charles Bridge, the Church of St. Nicholas on the Malá Stupartská in the Old Town, where organ notes flow amid beautiful Baroque statues. The National Opera is based in the National Theater in Prague and the small Theater of the States. The former German Opera, now the Prague State Opera, organizes a separate season from the National Opera.

The Czech musical tradition begins in the IX century AD with songs of religious origin. During the Middle Ages, several songs were composed that have survived in the Czech songbook, but it is difficult to specify where they came from. In the 15th century the reformist Jan Hus promoted religious song in the Bethlehem chapel in Prague notably, and according to the contemporary texts is the composer of several pieces of the time.

In the 16th century the famous organ of St. Vitus Cathedral was installed. Emperor Ferdinand I founded the court orchestra at this time, which his successors would later expand. From this orchestra, made up of musicians of various nationalities, several Czech folk songs emerge.

In the 17th century the court orchestra was brought to Vienna although they still performed in Prague on special occasions. The opera premiered in Bohemia in 1627 during the coronation of Ferdinand II. During this century, operas began to be performed in the country, but no company was permanently established.

With the coronation of Charles VI in 1723, Constance and Fortezza by Joseph Fux premiered in Prague, impressing Count Spork, who decided to have opera performed permanently in his theater, under the orders of Antonio Denzio. In the 18th century in parallel there was a boom in Czech popular music, which came to influence European music. At this time, Mozart lived for some time in Prague and composed Don Giovanni. The house he lived in south of Malá Strana, in the Smíchov district, is now a museum called Mozart House. The opera premiered at the Prague State Theatre.

The 19th century, the rise of Prague coincides with the city's best musical age. At this time, the most famous Czech composers, Antonín Dvořák and Bedřich Smetana, who are the authors of the most famous Czech musical compositions, such as the opera The Sold Bride, live in Prague. Heirs to Dvořák and Smetana are other composers who developed their careers in the XX century, such as Josef Suk, who even took part in the Los Angeles Olympics in 1932 or Leoš Janáček. After the First World War, the anti-romantic movement emerged, including the prolific composer Bohuslav Martinů, who spent most of his career outside the country.

Literature

Franz Kafka, famous writer praguense, author, among others, of Metamorphosis.

Prague is the birthplace of several renowned writers. Among others, Jan Neruda, Rainer Maria Rilke, Franz Kafka, Vladimír Holan, Bohumil Hrabal and Milan Kundera stand out.

Neruda was a Czech poet, short story writer, playwright and novelist, one of the main representatives of Czech realism and a member of the so-called School of May. His most recognized work is Tales from Malá Strana (1877), a book of stories about the Prague petty bourgeoisie of that, at that time, quiet neighborhood. His last name inspired the pseudonym Pablo Neruda to Ricardo Neftalí Reyes Basoalto, who took the liberty of changing the accentuation of it to grave. The street where he was born today bears his name.

Rainer Maria Rilke is considered one of the most important poets in the German language and world literature. His fundamental works are the Duino Elegies and the Sonnets to Orpheus . In prose, the Letters to a young poet and The notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge stand out. He is also the author of several works in French.

Kafka is one of the most important writers of the XX century in German. His work is one of the most influential in world literature in the last century, despite not being very extensive: he was the author of three novels (El proceso, El castillo and America), a short novel, The Metamorphosis, and a number of parables and short stories. In addition, he left behind a wealth of correspondence and autobiographical writings, most of it published posthumously. Much of his work was published after his death by his friend and confidante, Max Brod. His work is expressive, like no other, of the anxieties and alienation of the man of the XX century. The museum that bears his name contains the first editions of his books, as well as personal and audiovisual correspondence from the writer.

Vladimír Holan was a Czech poet, born in Prague in 1905. He traveled and lived in various European cities, publishing works in both verse and prose, as well as translations. In 1948 he moved to live in the Prague neighborhood of Kampa, where he locked himself up for the rest of his life; perhaps motivated in part by the fact that at this time his poetry was accused of decadent formalism by the communist authorities, for not responding to the official art advocated by the ruling party. Cloistered in his little house in Kampa, and now a myth, he began to write his most important works (among which A Night with Hamlet, Pain, In the last trance or Night with Ofelia). Holan's poetic universe is full of symbolism, and his habitual space is night, in which reality is mysterious and ghostly. His obsessions and his constant questions thrown into the world suppose a perennial interrogation for the secret of existence, where the borders between the possible and the impossible, sleep and wakefulness, reason and imagination, do not exist.

Hrabal, a resident but not a native of Prague, was a prominent Czech novelist, whose works include Tightly Guarded Trains (1964), I Served the King of England (1971) and A loneliness that is too noisy (Příliš hlučná samota, 1977). Tightly Guarded Trains was made into a film in 1966 and won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. He studied Law at the Charles University in Prague. His work combines a sensitive observation of the wonders of everyday life with a precise narrative in which humor leads us on tiptoe over tragedy.

Kundera is a novelist who was also not born in Prague but studied at the Charles University in Prague and taught film history at the Academy of Music and Dramatic Art from 1959 to 1969, and later at the Institute for Film Studies in Prague. He is a novelist whose best known work is The Unbearable Lightness of Being, for which he has been awarded several times.

Cinema

Prague is an excellent place to enjoy animated films. Particularly beautiful are the poetic and comic shows by Karel Zeman, who managed to animate characters made of glass and wood engravings, and the works of Jirí Trnka, the master of the genre, who created cinema-operas and cinema-ballets.

Apart from this special animated cinema in Prague there are numerous theaters where you can watch movies, especially American and European ones in your own language and subtitled in Czech. Film listings can be found in the newspapers Prognosis and The Prague Post, where the addresses of the cinemas are also listed.

Sports

Strahov Stadium, the second largest stadium in the world, has a capacity of 220 000 spectators.

Prague has good sports facilities and has been a candidate to host the 1924 and 2016 Olympic Games; for the latter she was discarded in the pre-selection made by the IOC on June 4, 2008. In April 2008 she stated her intention to delay her candidacy.

Among its sports facilities is the second largest stadium in the world, the Strahov Stadium, which can accommodate 220,000 spectators. Also noteworthy is the Sazka Arena, built in 2004 for the Men's Ice Hockey World Championship in 2004. Prague is also the setting for the Prague International Marathon, created in 1995 and which has become one of the most prestigious marathons in the world, and which is held in May, with representatives from more than 50 nations. It has also hosted the Skateboarding World Cup and various international Floorball competitions, a sport in which the Czech Republic is a power, such as the Floorball World Championship in 1998 and 2008 and the Floorball European Championship in 2003.

The main soccer teams in the Czech capital are Sparta Prague and Slavia Prague, who usually dominate the national league. Sparta Prague have won 10 of the 15 league titles played since the founding of the Czech Republic.

• Bohemians 1905
• Fotbalový Klub Dukla Prague
• Sportovní Klub Slavia Prague
• Athletic Club Sparta Prague
• Fotbalový Klub Viktoria Žižkov
• FK Bohemians Prague
• Loko Vltavín
• AC Sparta Prague II

Slavia's stadium is the Eden Arena.

Tourism

Prague is considered one of the most beautiful cities in the world. In 2004 it was the sixth most visited European capital by tourists, only behind London, Paris, Rome, Madrid and Berlin. According to a more recent study, was the twentieth world city to receive tourists in 2006. Most of the city's tourist attractions are concentrated in the neighborhoods that make up the historic center, that is: Hradčany, Malá Strana, Staré Město and Nové Mesto. In 2015, hotel establishments add a tourist tax of €0.60 per day and person to tourists.

Hradcany

Golden alley, Prague Palace

Cathedral of San Vito in Prague Castle.

The castle district is the oldest in Prague. Its main tourist attractions are:

• Prague Castle: Built in the centuryIX. With 570 meters long and 130 meters wide, it is considered the largest medieval fortress in the world. It contains the Cathedral of San Vito (see below), the Callejón del Oro and the Alchemy, where several alchemists gathered in search of the formula to create gold, and whose experiments have been collected at the Tower of the Gunpowder (Mihulka), 1494. In that alley he lived for several years Franz Kafka. There is also the chapel of the Santa Cruz, of the centuryXVIIIwhich hosts several frescoes and serves as an agency of change, the House of the Preboste, of the centuryXVII, the old Royal Palace, of the centuryXIIwhere there were the famous defensives of Prague, the Basilica of St. George, erected on an ancient church of the year 920, the Basilica of St.XVIII, the Castle Gallery, installed in the old stables, hosts a pinacoteca, the Dalibor Tower, where a violinist was imprisoned who gave birth to an opera, the Lobkowicz Palace, of the centuryXVII, which today houses a historic museum, the Burgrave House, which houses a museum of toy, and the Black Tower, the eastern gate of the Castle. It has been on various occasions in the headquarters history of different governments and is the official residence since 1918 of the President of the Republic. It was remodeled by the architect Jože Plečnik between 1920-1934 at the request of Czech President Masaryk.
• Cathedral of San Vito: It is a temple dedicated to Catholic worship located in the city. It is part of the monumental artistic ensemble of Prague Castle and is the largest exhibition of Gothic art in the city. Since 1989 he has been dedicated to San Vito, San Venceslao and San Adalberto. It has been the stage of the coronation of all the kings of Bohemia and in it are also buried all the holy bishops and archbishops and a good number of kings. The cathedral, though Catholic, is state-owned since the beginning of its construction in the centuryXIV. It is the oldest Gothic cathedral in Central Europe. In it are buried several Czech monarchs.

Other tourist attractions are the Castle Gardens, the Salm Palace, the Schwarzenberg Palace, the Archbishop's Palace, the Sternberg Palace, the Tuscan Palace, the Černín Palace, the Loreto Sanctuary and the Church of Saint John Nepomuk.

Malá Strana

The Malá Strana neighborhood, which can be translated as the Little Side or Little Quarter, is located next to the Castle Quarter and is full of splendid palaces, churches and squares, which flourished under the shelter of the imperial nobility. The main monuments are:

Charles Bridge owes its name to the monarch who ordered it to be built, King Charles IV, in 1357, with thirty statues and sixteen arches. It is one of the main tourist attractions of the Czech capital.

Vista del Puente Carlos

Malá Strana. one of the main streets with a variety of restaurants

• The Charles Bridge: It is the oldest bridge in Prague and crosses the Moldava River of Old Town to Small City. Its construction began in 1357 with the good seen of King Charles IV and was completed at the beginning of the centuryXV. It has a length of 516 meters and its width is almost 10 meters, while it is supported by 16 arches. It is protected by three towers distributed between its two headers, two of them in Malá Strana and the remaining one at the end located in the Old Town. The tower located in the head of Old Town is considered by many as one of the most impressive buildings of Gothic architecture in the world. The bridge is decorated by 30 statues on both sides of it, most of which are baroque style and were made around 1700. Artists and traders try to make money at the expense of the important flow of tourists who visit the place every day.
• The Monastery of Strahov: Monastery founded in the centuryXII. The monastery was lit and later rebuilt in baroque style. It is located on the hill west of the Castle. It includes the churches of the Assumption of the Virgin and of San Roque and the Philosophical and Theological Libraries, which contain books of incalculable historical value.
• The church of St. Nicholas: Church finished in 1710, with a richly decorated curviline and interior structure. It is located in the Plaza de Malá Strana. Mozart played the organ in his stay in Prague.

Nerudova Street -where the Bretfeld Palace, the Thun-Hohenstein Palace and the Moržin Palace are located-, the Lichtenstein Palace, the District Town Hall, the Smirickych Palace, the Schönborn Palace, are also of great tourist interest. the Lobkowicz Palace, the Vrtba Palace, the Church of Our Lady of Victory (Infant Jesus of Prague), the Church of Our Lady of the Chain, the Church of Saint Joseph, the Wallenstein Palace or the Petřín Tower.

I'll be Mesto

Historical axis of medieval origin, it brings together some of the oldest buildings in the city, which are erected around the Plaza del Ayuntamiento.

Church of Our Lady of Týn.

• The Church of Týn: located near the Old Town Square, began to be built in the centuryXIV but it was not finished until the centuryXVI. Despite the many reforms he has suffered, his main style is Gothic. Its most characteristic element are the pair of twin towers that rise above the roofs of the Old Town Square. Inside is a baptismal font of 1414, the oldest in the city, a Crucifixion of the early centuryXV, the Baroque altar of 1649 and the tomb of the astronomer Tycho Brahe, who formulated an intermediate theory between the Copernican and Ptolemaic systems to appease the church and advance at the same time in astronomy. This building was for some time the religious center and visible symbol of the Husita movement, then becoming a simple Catholic church of worship, as it is until today.

Astronomical clock (Astronomical clock)Orloj) of the centuryXVThe oldest in Europe.

• The Old Town Hall: Disordered complex of buildings. Its most famous element is the 1410 astronomical clock (Orloj), the oldest of its kind in Europe. Every time the hour comes out some figures representing the twelve apostles and other characters, the most famous of which is a skeleton, which with affirmative movements of the head recalls the imminence and universality of death. One of the Renaissance buildings has a golden window with the old city shield. He no longer has administrative functions and can visit his interior.
• The Old-New Synagogue: It is one of the oldest synagogues in Europe. It was founded near 1270 and is one of the first Gothic-style buildings in the city. He survived the fires, the demolition of the ghetto in the century.XIX and many pogroms. It is located in Josefov, the Jewish quarter of Prague. There is only one synagogue of the same kind, the Old Synagogue of Krakow in Poland.

Other tourist attractions are the remains of the Karolinum, the Klementinum, the Rudolfinum, the Church of Saint Nicholas, the Jewish Cemetery and the Convent of Saint Agnes.

Nove Mesto

The New Town is an extension of the Old Town dating from the 14th century. Its main attractions are:

Dancer house or Ginger and Fred, is the main contemporary building from an architectural point of view.

• The Danzante House is a famous building built in Prague. It was designed by the cabinet of architects of Frank Gehry and Vlado Milunic in 1997. Because of its similarity to a couple of dancers, it is also known as Ginger and Fred. Despite its destructive stylism, it is perfectly integrated with the rest of the old buildings of the area.

Wenceslao Square.

• Wenceslao Square: shopping center of the city, crowned by the statue of San Venceslao, pattern of Bohemia. At one end is the National Museum. Apart from being surrounded by several representative buildings, it is the scene of the main political manifestations of the city. It was the scene of the Spring of Prague and the beginning of the Revolution of Terciopelo.

Other attractions in the district are the Gunpowder Tower, Na Prikope street, the Municipal House, the National Theater or Carlos Square.

Transportation

Prague's public transportation includes the Prague Metro, trams, buses, the Petřín funicular up Petřín Hill, a chairlift at the Zoo, and three ferries. The system is integrated as ''Prague Integrated City Transport'' and is managed by Dopravní podnik hl. m. Prahy, a.s. and other companies.

Traffic in Prague is not very safe. The Czech Republic ranks sixth in Europe for the dangerousness of its roads. In the late 1990s the number of vehicles for private use grew exponentially, reaching an 85% increase over the decade. then the problems associated with traffic are common in Prague, despite the fact that 57% of the population uses public transport to get around.

Connections

Air transportation

Terminal 2 of Prague Airport.

Near Prague is the Václav Havel Prague Airport. It was inaugurated in 1937 and is located 10 kilometers from the capital. It is the largest airport in the Czech Republic, with four terminals —North 1, North 2, South 1 and South 2—, although only the first two are usually used. It is the busiest in Central and Eastern Europe with 10.8 million passengers in 2005.^[update] It is the communications center for Czech Airlines.

Public transportation to and from the center of Prague consists of taking the number 119 bus to the Dejvická subway station and transferring to the Green Line (Line A) subway, or the number 100 express to the Dejvická subway station. underground Zličín of the Yellow Line (Line B), although far from the center. A typical trip involves about 40 minutes.

Other bus services are:

• Express Airport: connects the airport with the central train station in Prague and the metro line C. The journey takes 35 minutes. The ticket costs 100 CZK (4,55 €) and is valid for one hour from the time of purchase.
• Bus 119: Communicate the airport with the Dejvická station of the metro line A. The journey takes 25 minutes. The ticket costs 26 CZK (1 €) and is valid for 75 minutes from the time of purchase.
• Bus 100: Communicate the airport with the Zličín station of the metro line B. The journey takes 25 minutes. The ticket costs 26 CZK (1 €) and is valid for 75 minutes from the time of purchase.
• Bus 179: Communicate the airport with the Nové Butovice station of the metro line B. The journey takes 45 minutes. The ticket costs 26 CZK (1 €) and is valid for 75 minutes from the time of purchase.

There are also other bus services that operate after midnight, when the subway lines stop operating.

Since December 11, 2005, the AE line (Airport Express or Expreso Aeropuerto) runs the route Prague-Holešovice Station - North Terminal 1 - North Terminal 2 - AP Ruzyně; It provides service every day, from 5:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m., with an interval of 30 minutes; the special rate is 45 CZK.

One of the most important awards received by the Ruzyně International Airport includes the Diploma and Gold Medal received in 1937 on the occasion of the International Exhibition of Arts and Techniques held in Paris in 1937 for the technical conception of the central airport, especially the architecture of its check-in building (current South Terminal 1) designed by the architect Engineer A. Beneš.

The old airport of Prague is located in the suburb of Kbely. After World War II it was dedicated exclusively to military flights. There are two other small airports in Prague, dedicated to national flights or as aero clubs; they are those of Letňany and Točná.

Railroad

Prague is the center of the Czech Republic's railway system, offering transportation to any part of the country.

It also has two international stations, Hlavní nádraží (also known as Wilsonovo nádraží) and Praha-Holešovice. There are two other important stations in the city, where many of the trains with domestic destinations also stop, Praha-Smíchov and Masarykovo nádraží. Finally there are several more stations of lesser category.

Urban transportation

Metro

Prague Metro Plan.

The Prague metro is made up of three lines: line A or green, line B or yellow and line C or red, and 55 stations. Its length is 54 kilometers. There are intersections between the three lines at the stations Můstek —lines A and B—, Florenc —lines C and B— and Muzeum —lines A and C. The metro began operating on May 9, 1974 and currently transports approximately 500 million passengers per year.

Tram

One of the trams in Prague.

The Prague tram has 26 day lines and 9 night lines, 628 stops and 553 kilometers of track. The tram started operating in Prague in 1875, then horse-drawn. In 1901 the first electric tram was inaugurated, which finally displaced the animal traction in 1905. Today it is used by more than 300 million passengers annually.

Bus

Prague has 180 day bus lines and 16 night buses, with 2,510 stops in total. The first urban bus began to circulate in 1908, but due to various technical problems its use was suspended until 1925 when it returned to operation. Today it is used by more than 300 million passengers annually.

Taxi

Prague is divided into three sectors where several taxi service companies operate, some of them offer telephone reservation service. There are also clandestine taxi drivers, who are famous for taking advantage of tourists by charging a premium. This fact is mentioned in the Lonely Planet guide and was the cause of a CNN report.

Health

A heart at the Institute of Clinical and Experimental Medicine

The life expectancy of women in Prague was 80.36 years and that of men 75.21 years in 2006, an increase that has been maintained in recent decades. The infant mortality rate is also very low, with 2.6 deaths per 1,000 children. These values are better than those of the rest of the country due to better medical services and healthy behavior patterns.

The main health centers of the Czech Republic are concentrated in Prague. Many of them are specialized in a specific healthcare area and treat patients from the capital as well as from the rest of the country. Contrary to what happens in the rest of the country, most health centers are public. However, in 2008 the government of the Czech Republic approved a law by which you have to pay a modest amount of money to be treated by a public physician. This measure is intended to save money from the public coffers and reduce the number of consultations, since the Czech Republic had the highest consultation rate in Europe.

According to the Czech Institute for Health Information and Statistics, Prague has 8,896 doctors and 64,174 hospital beds, which represents a rate of 8.65 doctors and 62.38 beds per 10,000 inhabitants.

Environment

Green areas

Prague is surrounded by abundant green areas. One of the National Natural Monuments that belong to Prague is Černá rokle.

The city of Prague has 2,100 hectares of protected areas, divided into 89 areas, several of which are National Natural Monuments –Barrandovské skály, Cikánka I., Dalejský profil, Lochkovský profil, Požáry, U Nového mlýna and Černá rokle-.

However, the amount of vegetation and parks within the urban area of the city is quite poor. The City of Prague is trying to increase the green areas of the city.

Pollution

Air quality in the city center is low, as well as in its vicinity. The main problem in the city is the emission of solid particles in suspension, caused by motor vehicles. Some environmental indicators have improved in the 1990s and 2000s, such as industrial gas emissions, and especially those of sulfur dioxide, but others, such as pollution generated by vehicles, have increased.

The increase in road traffic has also triggered noise pollution.

In the arts and popular culture

Prague is present in numerous artistic works by authors from all over the world. The song Cristals de Bohemia , by Joaquín Sabina, is dedicated to Prague. The album in which this song is found, Vinagre y rosas, was produced in the cities of Prague, Madrid and Rota.

Prague is also the setting for the first part of the video game Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines.

Twinned cities