Rodin rightly styled Prague:
“THE ROME OF THE NORTH.“
Both cities are situated on the banks of a great river, which is dotted with pretty green islands connected by fine bridges with the embankments.
Both cities, built on the sides of surrounding hills have magnificent buildings and towers which seem to “kiss the very clouds“.
In each of them prevail a combination of marvellous harmony and completeness of various styles of architecture from different ages.
In Rome monuments of Emperors mix with Christian traditions, relics of religious art with the renaisance: in Prague the Slav world is combined with Italian and German culture without losing its own characteristics but uniting with the same in a higher harmony of remarkable originality and of most exquisite charm.
Romanesque churches, Italian palaces, sublime spires of Gothic cathedrals, original baroque buildings, old wooden mills, modern houses are reflected in the silver stream of the river, that is a glory of Prague . . . .
Other fascinating views of the city can be obtained: from the platform at the entrance to the Royal Castle (close by the Statue of St. Wenceslas, the patron saint of the Kingdom of Bohemia); and from the gardens of the Strahov Monastery.
The restaurant called: The “Golden well“ (Zlatá studna) (Malá Strana, Sněmovní ulice 23) is famous for its charming view of the City especially in the evening, when the bells of the “hundred“ towers are calling to vespers.
When throwing a stone through a window in Prague,
you throw with it a morsel of history. (Count Lützow.)
HISTORY OF PRAGUE.
The Story of Prague is to a great extent the history of the Bohemian nation and of the Bohemian State.
History of Prague blends into the legendary: Libuša, a semimythical princess, is said to have founded the Castle of Prague, under which protection the surrounding towns rose and flourished. The castle was for many centuries the seat of the Přemyslide dynasty, extinct in 1306.
A time of great prosperity for Prague was the glorious reign of Charles the Fourth, of the Lucemburg dynasty (1346 till 1378), who made Prague the Capital of the Holy Roman Empire, founded there the famous University, the New Town, many churches and monasteries, built the Charles Bridge etc., so that the City had a foremost position among other seats of culture and civilisation in Europe.
