Situated on the Vltava River in central Bohemia, Prague has been the political, economic and also cultural cetre of the Czech Republic for more than 1100 years. Since 1992, the extensive historic centre of Prague has been listed on the UNESCO World Heritage Sites list.

The history of Prague winds through many decades of years, during which the city grew from the Vysehrad Castle to the multicultural capital of a modern European state.

Ancient Age

Around 200 BC the Celts settled in the south of Prague, in the area called Zavist, but later they were replaced by the Marcomanni and Germanic people followed by the Slavic people and according to a legend, Prague was founded by Libuse and her husband, Premysl. The first documented settlement was founded in the 9th century on a hill above the right bank of the Vltava River known as "Vysehrad". King Vladislav II had a first bridge on the Vltava built in 1170, the Judith Bridge, which was destroyed in 1342 by floodwater.  In 1257 King Otakar II. founded "Lesser Quarter" which was a district of the German people. The new district was on the opposite bank of the Old Town. 

Charles IV

The city flourished during the reign of the Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV of the new Luxemourg dynasty. He had the New Town Built (adajcent to the Old Town), the Charles Bridge was erected in order to connect the new districts to Lesser Town, he also built the magnificent St. Vitus Cathedral, the oldest gothic cathedral in the central Europe and also famous Charles University. In the following two centuries, Prague strengthened its position as a merchant city. 

The Habsburgs

One of the most famous rulers of Bohemia was Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II, who resided in Prague Castle. He was very fond of art - he invited many astrologers, magicians, scientists, musicians and artists to the court and thus Prague became the capital of European culture. This was a prosperous period for Prague: among famous personalities living here in that age was for example astronomer Tyche de Brahe and Johann Kepler, painter Arcimboldo, alchemists Edward Kelly and John Dee, poet Elizabeth Jane Weston and many more. 

In 1618, the Second Defenestration provoked the Thirty Year´s War, a particularly harsh period for Bohemia. In 1689, a great fire devastated Prague, but soon after that a big renovation and rebuilding of the city begun and the economic rise continued through the 18th century - many of Prague inhabitants were rich merchants who enriched the city with magnificent palaces, churched and gardens in Baroque style. 

20th century and the 1st Republic

At the beginning of the 20th century Czech lands were the most productive part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Czech politis started their attempts to separate them from the Habsburg empire. 

World War I ended with the defeat of the Austrian Empire and the creation of Czechoslovakia. Prague was chosen as its capital and Prague Castle as the seat of president (at that time it was Tomas Garique Masaryk). Back then, Prague was a true European capital with well developed industry. 

From the World War II to present

German army was order by Hitler to enter Prague on 15th March 1939 and Bohemia and Moravia were proclaimed a German protectorate. For most of its history Prague had been a multiethnic city with important Czech, German and Jewish population, but from 1939, when the country was occupied by Nazi Germany, most Jews either fled from the country or were killed in the Holocaust. At the end of the war Prague suffered several bombing raids by the U.S. Air Force, which destroyed many of buildings, factories and historical landmarks. In May 1945 Germany capitulated and the Soviet army entered Prague and from then Czechoslovakia remained under strong Soviet political influence.

In February 1948, Prague became the centre of a communist coup. The intellectual community of Prague suffered under the totalitarian regime and in 1967 a strong dissent against the regime was taken. The new secretary of the Communist Party, Alexander Dubcek proclaimed a new phase for Czechoslovakia, beginning the short-lived season of "socialism with a human face" - Prague Spring, which aimed at a democratic reform of institutions. The Soviet Union and the rest of the Warsaw Pact (except for Romania) reacted, occupying Czechoslovakia and the capital in August 1968. During the communist period little was actively done to maintain the beauty of the city´s buildings and true renovation began after the collapse of communism. In 1898, after the Berlin Wall had fallen, and the Velver Revolution crowded the streets of Prague, Czechoslovakia finally freed itself from communism and Soviet influence and after the split of Czechoslovakia in Czech Republic and Slovakia, Prague became the capital city of the new Czech Republic.