Ten centuries of European architecture & heritage
In the early nineteenth century, Prague was home to a substantial number of German speakers, especially among the nobility and professional classes. In the light of the Czech National Revival, however, their linguistic and cultural...
In the year 863, the Orthodox missionary brothers Cyril and Methodius began translating the Bible into the language known as Old Church Slavonic, using a specially-formulated script from which was derived the later ‘Cyrillic’ alphabet....
Vítkov Hill, due east of Prague’s historic centre, has always been an important strategic site. It was here in 1420 that Jan Žižka, scourge of the Holy Roman Empire and zealous warrior of the Hussite...
This neo-renaissance secondary school in Prague 2 was constructed by Josef Franzl from a plan by the great Prague architect Antonin Turek, who was also responsible for the beautiful Vinohrady water tower and numerous other...
In 1791 a vast outdoor exhibition took place in Prague to mark the coronation (as King of Bohemia) of the Holy Roman Emperor Leopold II. The celebrations included the first performance of Mozart’s penultimate opera,...
The first village schoolmaster in Vršovice was appointed in the 17th century, and we know that in 1797 Matouš Holub was running a small school from his family cottage near the Botič stream. But the...
This framed Mother and Child appears on the ornamental facade of a neo-baroque house in Prague’s New Town. The building, at the corner of the major thoroughfare Ječná (Barley Street), is home to a traditional...
On a high ridge overlooking Prague’s Stromovka park stands the impressive Místodržitelský letohrádek (Governor’s Summer Palace). Though extensively modified in Strawberry Hill style between 1804 and 1805 by Georg Fischer, its tower contains an original...
In 1844, the architect Josef Kranner was commissioned to build this elaborate neo-gothic fountain in honour of the Habsburg emperor Francis II, who as Franz I of Austria ruled Bohemia from 1792 to 1835. The...
Giuseppe Rangheri was born in Gora, on the shores of Lake Como, and came to Prague in the late 1700s when there was already a thriving silk market. He set up his original mulberry plantation...
