Prague: The Heart of Europe [Hardcover]

This comprehensive political, social, and cultural history traces Prague's origins in the ninth century through the end of the Cold War. Highlights include the golden ages of Charles IV and Rudolph II; the religious conflicts of the Hussite and Thirty Years Wars; the rich culture of Europe's largest Jewish community; the rivalry between the city's German and Czech speakers; the World Wars and Nazi occupation; and the Communist era.Prague: The Heart of Europehighlights the complex culture of the city where Mozart premiered his magnificentDon Giovanniand where Franz Kafka wrote his foreboding tales.A sweeping and comprehensive history of Prague--from its origins in the ninth century to the present day--that traces its past as a political center and a city on the periphery of empires.Poets have called Prague the City of One Hundred Spires, Golden Prague, Magic Prague, and the Mother of Cities. Millions of tourists visit the Czech capital each year, awed by the blend of architectural styles and the dramatic landscape. St. Vitus's Gothic cathedral towers above the Charles Bridge and the Vltava River. Winding Gothic alleys lead to elegant squares lined with Renaissance palaces, Baroque statues, and modern glass structures. Yet, the city's beauty often obscures centuries of ethnic and religious conflict. In Prague's Jewish Quarter, the names of nearly 80,000 Holocaust victims are inscribed on the walls of Pinkas Synagogue, which stands as a reminder of a complex and violent past.Cynthia Paces traces the history of Prague since the late ninth century, when Slavic dukes built the first church and fortifications on the castle hill. Over the course of eleven centuries, Prague vacillated between a political center and a city on the periphery of empires. The Holy Roman Emperors Charles IV and Rudolph II transformed Prague into a European center of arts, politics, and pilgrimage, but centuries of religious conflict, the defenestrations of Praguelƒ<