Prague

Előszó

Prague: an historic town Prague, Mother of Towns The Neo-Renaissance National Museum (Nârodni muzeum), erected in 1890 on a design by Josef Schulz, dominates Wenceslas Square (Vâclavské nâmësti) n the very heart of Bohemia (Cechy) lies Prague (Praha), capital of the Czech Republic, which for its beauty and sights has won the admiration of numerous _ visitors from around the world. The valley basin through which the river Vltava meanders was an enticing place in which to settle, since ancient trading routes passed through helpful fords in the river. Thus, over hundreds of years, the future Czech capital grew on both the left and right banks of the river, out of small settlements which formed gradually in the area between two castles - the older Prague Castle (Prazsky hrad), and Vysehrad (higher castle), built later. Founded on sites overlooking the river in the 9th and 10th centuries, both castles marked the boundaries of the area that was to become the Czech capital, and would, in the immediate future, influence fundamentally the expansion and structure of the settlement. An old dynastic legend links the establishment of the town of Prague with the figure of Libuse, the fabled Czech princess and prophetess. When the princess summoned to her throne a ploughman from Stadice by the name of Premysl, whom she chose to be her prince consort, she foretold the foundation of Prague with the words: "I see a large town, the glory of which shall reach the stars". That event, which occurred in pagan times, shortly after the Czech Slavs first came to inhabit the land, together with the cult of a later member of the Premysl dynasty, Saint Wenceslas (died c. 935), became one of the foundations of mediaeval state and dynastic Vissza