Prague and Famous Personalities

 Prague
o Prague Castle
 built in the 9th century
 was a seat of power for kings of Bohemia,
Holy Roman emperors, presidents of
Czechoslovakia
 now is the official office of the President of
Czechia
 Prague Castle is the largest ancient castle
in the world according to the Guinness
Book of Records
o St. Vitus Cathedral
 Gothic cathedral with Renaissance
elements
 part of the Prague Castle complex
 the Bohemian Crown Jewels are kept there
o Charles Bridge
 stone bridge that crosses the Vltava River
in Prague
 is decorated by a continuous alley of 30
statues
 its construction began under the auspices
of King Charles IV. and finished in the early
15th century
 connects Prague Castle and the city's Old
Town and adjacent areas
o National Museum
 located on the upper end of Wenceslas
Square
 founded in 1818, built by Czech neo-
renaissance architect Josef Schulz
 exhibitions featuring natural sciences and
historical collections
o Venceslas square
 named after Saint Wenceslas, the patron
saint of Bohemia
 the centre of the business and cultural
communities in the New Town of Prague
 a traditional setting for demonstrations,
celebrations, and other public gatherings,
the most important ones:
 16. January 1969, student Jan Palach
set himself on fire in Wenceslas
Square to protest the Warsaw Pact
invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968
 1989, during the Velvet Revolution,
large demonstrations were held here,
which led to the end of 41 years long
Communist Party
o Old town square with the astronomical clock
 located between Wenceslas Square and
Charles Bridge
 the astronomical clock mounted on the Old
Town Hall is the third-oldest in the world
and the oldest clock still in operation
o Vyšehrad
 a historic fort in Prague on the east bank of
the Vltava River
 contains the Vyšehrad Cemetery, where
are kept the remains of many famous
Czechs
o National Theatre
 a neo-Renaissance building with a golden
crown-shaped roof
 was built in the Bach absolutism era when
Czechia was part of the Austrian Empire -
Czech culture, language, and art was
being replaced by German
 was opened for the first time on 11 June
1881, but a fire broke out on 12 August
1881, which destroyed the copper dome,
the auditorium, and the stage of the theatre
 reopened on 18 November 1883
 promoted Czech pride
o Charles University
 founded in 1348 by Charles IV.
 the oldest university in Central Europe

 Famous people in the history of Czechia
o Bedřich Smetana (2 March 1824 – 12 May
1884)
 the father of Czech music
 born in Litomyšl - a town near Česká
Třebová
 the symphonic cycle Má vlast ("My
Fatherland"), which portrays the history,
legends, and landscape of the composer's
native Bohemia. It contains the famous
symphonic poem "Vltava"
o Emil von Škoda (18 November 1839 – 8 August
1900)
 Czech engineer and industrialist
 founder of Škoda Works, the predecessor
of today's Škoda Auto and Škoda
Transportation
o Alphonse Mucha (24 July 1860 – 14 July 1939)
 Czech painter, illustrator, and graphic artist
 widely known for his distinctly stylized and
decorative theatrical posters
 The Slav Epic - a series of twenty
monumental symbolist canvases, depicting
the history of all the Slavic peoples of the
world
o Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk (7 March 1850 – 14
September 1937)
 the first President of Czechoslovakia
 regarded as the founding father of
Czechoslovakia (after the fall of Austria-
Hungary in late 1918)
 Masaryk was re-elected three times: in
May 1920, 1927, and 1934
o Karel Čapek (9 January 1890 – 25 December
1938)
 Czech writer, playwright, critic and
journalist.
 best known for his science fiction, including
his novel War with the Newts or play
R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots,),
which introduced the word robot
 nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature
seven times, but never received it
 influenced by American pragmatic
liberalism, strongly opposed the rise of
both fascism and communism in Europe
 died a few days before the Gestapo came
to arrest him
o Jaroslav Seifert (23 September 1901 – 10
January 1986)
 Czech writer, poet, and journalist
 received the Nobel Prize in Literature
(1984)
o Václav Havel (5 October 1936 – 18 December
2011)
 the last president of Czechoslovakia and
the first president of the Czech Republic
 because of his political activities during the
Communist system, he spent multiple
periods as a political prisoner
 major role in the Velvet Revolution that
ended the Communist system in
Czechoslovakia in 1989
o Miloš Forman (18 February 1932 – 13 April
2018)
 Czech film director who emigrated to the
United States in 1968
 he won two Academy Awards, a BAFTA
Award, three Golden Globe Awards, a
Golden Bear, a César Award, and the
Czech Lion
 his film The Firemen's Ball, a biting satire
on Eastern European Communism. It was
later banned by the Communist
government after the invasion by the
Warsaw Pact countries in 1968.
 Forman was subsequently forced to leave
Czechoslovakia for the United States,
where he continued making films
o Karel Gott (14 July 1939 – 1 October 2019)
 Czech singer considered the most
successful male singer in Czechoslovakia
and the Czech Republic
 in the German-speaking countries, he was
known as "the Golden Voice of Prague"

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