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...
A Prague underground system had been proposed as early as 1898 by the engineer Ladislav Rott, but it was only in 1926 that the first proper plan for a rapid transport system was drawn up...
This monumental early baroque palace in the Malá Strana district was constructed between the years 1623 and 1630 for Count Albrecht von Wallenstein (Czech ‘Valdštejn), one of the most significant and colourful figures of the...
The rococo interiors of the southern range of the presidential palace are richly decorated in gilded stucco in the manner of the adjacent (and much earlier) Spanish Hall. The entire wing was part of the...
This full-height bronze of the illustrious poet Karel Hynek Mácha was begun in 1910 (the centenary of his birth) and placed on Petřin Hill, not far from the writer’s birthplace on Újezd street, two years...
In 1883 the publisher František Topič opened his first bookshop here on Národní třída (National Avenue). From its central location opposite the National Theatre, Topič was able to exert great influence as a promoter of...
The collapse of the Austro-Hungarian empire in 1918 saw the emergence of a number of independent European nation-states, of which Czechoslovakia was one. Instrumental in the creation of the new republic was the then president...
Originally the headquarters of the First Czech General Reinsurance Bank, this handsome art nouveau building close to the National Theatre was constructed in 1904-5 to a plan by the architect Jiří Stibral. Additional features of...
A mere thirty years after the arrival of the first railways in Prague, the urgent need for expansion resulted in the demolition of the original neo-renaissance Franz Josef station. Its replacement – built between 1901...
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...
