PRAGUE
HISTORY |
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Founded in the latter part of the 9th century, Prague soon became the seat
of the kings of Bohemia, some of whom later reigned also as emperors of the
Holy Roman Empire. The city flourished during the 14th century reign of
Charles IV, who ordered the building of the New City, the Charles Bridge,
Saint Vitus Cathedral, the oldest gothic cathedral in central Europe and
actually inside the Castle, and the Charles University, the oldest
university in central Europe north of the Alps. Prague was then the third-largest
city in Europe.
The four independent boroughs that had formerly constituted Prague were
eventually proclaimed a single city in 1784. Those four cities were Hradcany
(the Castle District, west and north of the Castle), Malá Strana (the Lesser
Town, south of the Castle), Staré Mesto (the Old Town, on the east bank
opposite the Castle) and Nové Mesto (the New Town, further south and east).
The city underwent further expansion with the annexation of Josefov in 1850
and Vyšehrad in 1883, and at the beginning of 1922, another 37
municipalities were incorporated, raising the city's population to 676,000.
Most of the city's 50,000 Jews died in the Nazi genocide of World War II. |
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| Prague suffered serious flooding in August 2002, with parts of the city
having to be evacuated. The floods caused a lot of damage, but fortunately
no major landmarks (such as the Charles Bridge) were destroyed. |
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