Prague

The city is situated on the both banks of the river Vltava in the centre of our republic. Prague is our largest city. It covers about five hundred square kilometres and it is divided into ten districts.
The oldest and most famous districts are for example The Old Town, The New Town, the Lesser Quarter, Vyšehrad and Hradčany.

    Prague is the capital of the Czech Republic. It is a centre of political, economic, financial, educational and cultural life.
It is a seat of the president, government and parliament.
You can find many banks In Prague. There were established a lot of new firms and factories. You can also visit many theatres, galleries, cinemas and museums there. In Prague there is situated our oldest University which was founded in 1348 by the Czech king Charles the fourth. It is the oldest one in Central Europe.
   
    The history of the city goes back to Celtic times when the area was settled by the Celts. In the sixth century came the Slaves. This period is connected with the legend of princess Libuše from Přemyslid dynasty. Libuše was the youngest of three daughters of Krok. She was very nice and she had a gift of prophecy. One day Libuše looked down into a valley and she prophesied the foundation and the glory of Prague. She sent her servants into the valley. They found there a man who was building his house. At that moment he was making a threshold which means práh in Czech. That is the reason why is our capital called Praha.
If I am talking about the history of Prague I must mention two important and very famous Czech kings –Charles the fourth and Rudolf the second. Charles the forth ruled in the fourteenth century and he did many important things for Prague. For example he founded University as mentioned earlier, new squares: the Horse market which is nowadays Wenceslas square and the Cattle market which is Charles square now. He also promoted the construction of Saint Vitus Cathedral and Charles Bridge.
The other very famous king of our country was Rudolf the second who ruled in 16th century. He supported especially the science. During the rule of these kings the city developed and flourished.
After the First World War in 1918 Prague became a capital of the independent Czechoslovak Republic and in 1993 it became a capital of the Czech Republic.
   
    Prague is visited by many millions of foreign tourists every year who especially admire the old charm of sights:
Their tour of the city can start at the Prague castle.
    It was founded after 880 by the first Přemyslid Prince Bořivoj.
    There they can visit for example Saint Vitus Cathedral which was founded by Charles the fourth   
    but it was finished after one thousand years. In the cathedral you can see Saint Wenceslas chapel     with a coronation chamber with our coronation jewels. In the cathedral there is also a royal crypt.At the castle you can also go to the Saint George Basilica which is built in Romanesque style.
    The Prague castle is surrounded by the Strahov and Petřín hill where is situated famous watchtower     and mirror labyrinth.
The other famous castle in Prague is Vyšehrad. It was built in the eleventh century and for some time it was a seat of Czech rulers. Nowadays we can visit the National Cemetery here.

From the castle tourist can continue to Golden lane where everybody can admire very small houses         of craftsmen who worked at the castle. Today there are souvenir shops and some museums there.

From this place I recommend to continue through the Neruda Street to Saint Nicolas church (it is a jewel of baroque style in the Lesser Town Square)

Then you can go on and cross the Charles Bridge which is decorated with many statues. Some of these  statues are made by Mathias Braun. On the Charles Bridge you can buy souvenirs from the vendons because the bridge is always full of them.

From the Charles Bridge you can get to the Old Town Square where is situated the famous town hall and astronomic clock.  The astronomic clock was made by mister Hanuš who was blinded by counsellors after finishing the clock. They wanted mister Hanuš to not to be able to make the same clock for another town. In the square you can visit the Týn Church with a grave of Tycho de Brahe. One of the dominant of the square is the John Hus Monument and not far from here is the Bethlehem Chapel where he preached.

The Old town square you can leave through the Paris Street where you can stop in the Old-New Synagogue and the Jewish cemetery.

At the end of Paris Street turn right and the river leads you to the National Theatre.Now I would like to mention some basic date of the theatre. It was founded in 1968 but it was destroy by fire very soon. It was rebuilt and reopened again. For rebuilding after the fire Czech people make     a collect of money. It is built in late renaissance style. The best artists of the nineteenth century decorated this theatre – they were Mikoláš Aleš and Václav Hynais.
In Prague there are situated many other theatres for example the Smetana Theatre, the Tyl Theatre, the Vinohrady Thetare, the Semafor and also many clubs for young people.

Through the Národní Street you can came to Wenceslas Square which is the most famous in Prague.     It is the centre of the city. It is about seven hundred and fifty meters long and sixty meters wide.         The square is full of hotels, shops, restaurants and so on. In the upper part of the square was installed a statue of Saint Wenceslas who is sitting on the horse back. Saint Wenceslas is a patron of our     country.
    Behind the statue there is a big building of the National Museum. The visiting of the museum is for long hours.
   
I would like to mention National Gallery too. It hasn’t its own building it spreads out in various Prague spots like Saint George Church, 3ternberk and Saint Agnes Monastery.

    Beside the old centre Prague also has new modern centres, buildings and shopping parks. It is large city but you can find there several parks and gardens, for example Petřín.    
 In our capital tourists and citizens can use many different means of transport –underground, buses, and trains and so on. In Prague there is one of the busiest airports in Europe called Ruzyně.

Many world personalities lived in Prague or they spent some time in our capital - for example Mozart, Beethowen, Čajkovskij, Descartes, Dostojevskij, Einstein, Kafka and Gingsberg.