Historic Centre of Prague
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How it came to be
The history of Prague Castle begins in 870, when its first walled building, the Church of the Virgin Mary, was built. The basilicas of St George and St Vitus were founded in the first half of the 10th century. The Old Town, the Lesser Town and the New Town on either bank of the Vltava took shape between the 11th and 18th centuries.
Charles IV, who reigned from 1346 to 1378, founded the New Town in 1348 outside the Old Town walls as a separate royal town. It covered 7.5 km², about three times the area of the Old Town, and on 7 April of the same year Charles University was founded as the first university in central Europe. Work on the Charles Bridge began in 1357, and the 516 m stone bridge with 16 arches was finished in the early 15th century.
On 29 October 1787 Mozart conducted the premiere of his opera Don Giovanni in the theatre now called the Estates Theatre in the Old Town. The historic centre escaped large-scale urban renewal and demolition, and was inscribed as a World Heritage site in 1992. The property now also includes Průhonice Park outside the city, founded in 1885 by Count Arnošt Emanuel Silva-Tarouca.
Travellers who came here
- 1841-06
He arrived on 25 June and saw Nestroy act in one of his own folk comedies. On the 28th he set off for Dresden by the steamship Boehmia along the Elbe.
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