F EW cities in the world have a more striking and feverish historical record than Prague, the ancient capital of Bohemia and of the lands of the Bohemian crown. It is a very ancient saying at Prague that when throwing a stone through a window you throw with it a morsel of history. The story of Prague is to a great extent the history of Bohemia, and all Bohemians have always shown a devoted affection for the ‘hundred-towered, golden Prague,’ as they fondly call it. As Mr. Arthur Symons has well s

T HE earliest tales of the foundation of Prague are as those of most very ancient cities—entirely mythical. Here, as elsewhere, very ancient legends and traditions take the place of genuine history. Yet a notice of such ancient towns that ignored these legends would be valueless. It is almost certain that the earliest inhabited spot within the precincts of the present city of Prague was the hill on the right bank of the Vltava or Moldau, known as the Vysehrad (‘higher castle’ or Acropolis). It i

C HARLES died in 1378 and was succeeded by his son Wenceslas, who, at least in his earlier years, certainly does not deserve the exaggerated censure of German historians. These historical judgments are, to a great extent, founded on the opinions unfavourable to Wenceslas that were expressed by strongly Romanist chroniclers, who were influenced by the favour that the King, and yet more his consort, Princess Sophia of Bavaria, for a time showed to Hus and the movement in favour of Church reform. W

A FTER the battle of the White Mountain, the interest of the story of Prague declines for a time. A period of strenuous reaction in Church and State, during which the Government endeavours to efface the memorials of past national glory, cannot be picturesque. As it was necessary to replace by new architectural monuments the ancient buildings that recalled events that it was now thought desirable to forget, Prague was in the seventeenth and eighteenth century covered with buildings in the rococo

P RAGUE, the winter residence of the wealthy and powerful Bohemian nobility, is a city of palaces, but it will here be sufficient to mention those only that have considerable historical or artistic interest. As has already been mentioned, many of the palaces of Prague were built in the last years of the Thirty Years’ War, or in the immediately subsequent period. Such are the Nostic Palace in the Graben or Prikapy, the great Waldstein Palace, the palace of Count Clam-Gallas, which will be mention

T HE churches of Prague are, and always have been, very numerous. We read that at the funeral of King Ottokar, in 1278, the bells of nearly a hundred churches pealed. The oldest ecclesiastical buildings in Prague were small round chapels of a Romanesque character, three of which are still in existence, though they were formerly far more numerous. Many churches were destroyed during the Hussite Wars, and many were restored, in deplorably bad taste, during the Catholic re-action that followed the

T HE Bohemian Museum (Museum Kralovstvi Ceskéhö) has a great and twofold interest, both as containing most valuable relics of the past of Bohemia and as constituting the most important monument of the ‘Resurrection’ of Bohemia in the nineteenth century. I have already briefly referred to that movement, of which the Bohemian Museum is, with the National Theatre, the most prominent architectural expression. The society of the Bohemian Museum was founded on April 15, 1818, mainly through the exerti

A LMOST all the best hotels of Prague are situated near the State Railway Station, in the Hybernská Ulice and the adjoining angle of the Graben. This will therefore be the usual starting-place for those who have sufficient time to walk leisurely through the streets of Prague. As the former divisions of the town have great historical importance, I shall refer separately—firstly to the old town, then to the new town and Vysehrad, lastly to the Malá Strana and Hradcany. For the last-named walk the

T O those visitors to Prague who have acquired some interest in the history of the country no excursion will appeal more than that to the White Mountain, ‘the Chacronaea of Bohemia,’ as it has been aptly called. Leaving the Malá Strana by the now-demolished Strahov gate (near the monastery of that name), we soon reach the White Mountain. Factories built in modern times have considerably altered the aspect of the ground. The plateau, which the Bohemian army occupied on the evening of November 7,

A S the names of the streets, squares, etc., at Prague are now only written in the national language, I have thought that a short list of the most necessary Bohemian words would be welcome. It will be very useful when using the plan of Prague that accompanies this book. It is scarcely necessary to say that English is spoken in the principal hotels of Prague. Those who feel inclined to learn the Bohemian language which, though difficult, is philologically of the highest interest, will find an abl

T HE history of Prague is to so great an extent that of Bohemia, that if I attempted to give a full list of my authorities, I should be obliged to enumerate the works of the principal modern Bohemian historians, as well as those of many older chroniclers and writers of history. In a work where compression has been necessary on every page I could attempt no such bibliographic study. Of historical writings, I mention only Dr. Tomek’s monumental work. I give the names only of a few books that deal