Prague(praha) (0)

Gümnaasium
Prague
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2010
Contents
1. Contents
2. Introduction
3. Compendium about Prague
4. Important about Czech Republic and Prague
5.-7. History
8. Independence
9. Main sights
10. the Czech Republic
11. List of famous people from Prague
12. Geography
13. Weather and climate
14. Population
15. Culture
Introduction
The Czech Republic lies at the heart of Central Europe and at its center is the beautiful and historic city of Prague. With a population of some 1.3 million residents, the city lies on either side of the Vltava River in the middle of Bohemia that is one of the three historic Czech territories; the others being Moravia and Silesia. The city has seven " Chapter Divisions" or districts.

I read one girl blog and she described Prague so beautifuly. She talked about her adventures. When i was reading that it seemed so real , that i was there to.
The city’s charms can occasionally be obscured by too many tourists, congested traffic and tacky commercialism. Packed in among thousands of other visitors, trying like crazy to see the city in three days and worrying about getting ripped off, it’s not surprising, may think the city is overrated. Just relax, take a deep breath. While the city centre is a mélange of stunning architecture , from Gothic , Renaissance and baroque to neoclassical, art nouveau and cubist, beyond the medieval lanes of the Old Town and the Castle District, there’s an entire other cosmopolitan city to explore. Search out the riverside parks , lively bars and beer gardens, music clubs, museums and art galleries. Harness Prague’s excellent public-transport system to explore emerging suburbs such as Žižkov, Vinohrady, Smíchov and Holešovice. You’ll be guaranteed cheaper prices, a more local ambience, and an assured escape from any more feelings of doubt ..
Instead of summer practice i would like to go on trip to Prague. I think it would be more educational then sita t school and trantslate story or doing exercises. Because students can use language in their real life and they will get experiences . We can see beautiful and attractive Prague city and visit famous places . I think it rare opportunity to write an essay and to get trip with your classmates. If i have chance to go to Prague i would definitely vist an Old Town, Charles University Botanical Garden , Praguage

Compendium about Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Nicknames for Prague have included Praga mater urbium/ Praha matka měst ("Prague – Mother of Cities") in Latin/Czech, Stověžatá Praha ("City of a Hundred Spires") in Czech or Zlaté město/Goldene Stadt (" Golden City") in Czech/ German .
Situated on the Vltava River in central Bohemia, Prague has been the political , cultural and economic centre of the Czech state for more than 1100 years . For many decades during the Gothic and Renaissance eras, Prague was the permanent seat of two Holy Roman Emperors and thus was also the capital of the Holy Roman Empire .
Today , the city proper is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 1.9 million.
Since 1992, the extensive historic centre of Prague has been included in the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites , making the city one of the most popular tourist destinations in Europe, receiving more than 4.1 million international visitors annually, as of 2009[update].
Figure1.
IMPORTANT ABOUT CZECH REPUBLIC AND PRAGUE
Czech Republic
Česká republika  (Czech)
Flag
Coat of arms
Motto: "Pravda vítězí" (Czech)
" Truth prevails" Anthem : Kde domov můj? (Czech)
"Where is my home?"
Figure2. European map.
Location of  Czech Republic  ( green )
- on the European continent   ( light green &  grey )
- in the European Union  (light green).
Capital (and largest city) Prague (Praha).
Official language(s) Czech, Slovak.
Government Parliamentary republic.
President Václav Klaus .
Prime Minister Jan Fischer.
EU accession 1 May 2004.
Total area- 78,866 km2 (116th).
30,450 sq mi.
Water 2%.
Population 2009 estimate 10,506,813 (78th)- 2001  census 10,230,060. Density -132/km2 (77th). 341/sq mi.
Calling code +420.
History

• The recent past
  

Despite the city's turbulent history, Prague's progress in recent years has been more stately than revolutionary . The booming tourism sector and a solid industrial base have left its citizens in better economic shape than the rest of the country . Unemployment is minimal , the shops are full , and façades that were crumbling a decade ago have been given face- lifts . Big new shopping malls and multiplex cinemas are popping up all over the place , there's a huge new sporting and events arena, the metro system is being extended and a new floodprotection system has been installed.
There are downsides, of course . Rumours of corruption in City Hall are rife, affordable housing remains in short supply, the health system is under strain, and traffic congestion and crime rates are up. Despite this, the mood of the city remains buoyant.
Václav Havel 's 13 years as president came to an end in February 2003, when his place was taken by hard -nosed, right- wing economist Václav Klaus. More change was to come : the decision on whether the Czech Republic should join the European Union was settled by a referendum - with 77% voting in favour - and on 1 May 2004 the Czech Republic became a member of the EU.
However , the parliamentary elections of June 2006 ended in stalemate - it looks like a rocky road ahead for Czech politics in the next few years.

• From the beginning

The oldest evidence of human habitation in the Prague valley dates from 600, 000 BC, but more numerous clues were left by hunters during the last Ice Age, about 25, 000 years ago. Permanent communities were established around 4000 BC in the northwestern parts of Prague, and the area was inhabited continuously by various Germanic and Celtic tribes before the arrival of the Slavs . The name Bohemia came from a Celtic tribe called Boii, and is still used today for the western part of the Czech Republic.

• Foundation of Prague
  

In the 6th century , two Slav tribes settled on opposite sides of a particularly appealing stretch of the Vltava River. The Czechs built a wooden fortress where the residential area Hradčany stands today, and the Zlíčani built theirs upstream at what is now Vyšehrad. They had barely dug in when nomadic Avars thundered in, to rule until the Frankish trader Samo united the Slav tribes and drove the Avars out. Samo held on for 35 years before the Slavs reverted to squabbling.
In the 9th century Prague was part of the short-lived Great Moravian Empire. Under its second ruler, Rastislav (r 846-70), emissaries were invited to come from Constantinople, and Christianity took root in the region . The Moravians (the ancient lands of Moravia now form the eastern part of the Czech Republic) were ultimately undone by internal conflicts, especially with the Czechs, who finally broke away from the empire.
Prague Castle (Pražský hrad, or just hrad to the Czechs) was built in the 870s by Prince Bořivoj as the main seat of the Přemysl dynasty. Vyšehrad sometimes served as an alternative in the 10th and 11th centuries .
Christianity became the state religion under the rule of the pious Wenceslas (Václav in Czech), duke of Bohemia (r c 925-29), now the chief patron saint of the Czech people. Wenceslas was the ' Good King Wenceslas' of the well- known Christmas carol written in 1853 by English clergyman John Mason Neale. Neale, a scholar of eastern European church history, had read about St Wenceslas' legendary piety, and based his carol on the story of the duke's page finding strength and warmth by following in the footsteps of his master as they carried food, wine and firewood to a poor peasant on a freezing cold Boxing Day. The unfortunate Wenceslas was murdered by his own brother , Boleslav; the Chapel of St Wenceslas in St Vitus Cathedral is decorated with scenes from the saint's life.
In 950 the German king Otto I conquered Bohemia and incorporated it into the Holy Roman Empire. By 993 Přemysl princes had forged a genuine Slav alliance, and ruled Bohemia on the Germans' behalf until 1212, when the pope granted Otakar I the right to rule as a king. Otakar bestowed royal privileges on the Staré Město (Old Town), and Malá Strana ( Little Quarter ) was established in 1257 by Otakar II.
Přemysl lands stretched at one point from modern-day Silesia (a region on the Czech-Polish border) to the Mediterranean Sea. Their Austrian and Slovenian domains, however, were lost when Otakar II died and his army was thrashed at the 1278 Battle of Moravské Pole (fought near modern-day Dürnkrut in Austria) by the Austrian Habsburgs.

• Hussite revolution

The late 14th and early 15th centuries witnessed the Church- reform movement led by Jan Hus. Hus' eventual conviction for heresy and his death at the stake in 1415 sparked a nationalist rebellion in Bohemia led by the Hussite preacher Jan Želivský. In 1419 several Catholic councillors were flung from the windows of Prague's New Town Hall by Želivský's followers, thus introducing the word 'defenestration' (the act of throwing someone or something out of a window ) to the political lexicon.
After the death in 1419 of Holy Roman emperor and king of Bohemia Wenceslas IV, Prague was ruled by various Hussite committees. In 1420 combined Hussite forces led by military commander Jan Žižka successfully defended Prague against the first anti-Hussite crusade, launched by Sigismund, the Holy Roman emperor, during the Battle of Vítkov Hill .
In the 1420s a split developed in the Hussite ranks between radical Taborites, who advocated total war on Catholics, and moderate Utraquists, who consisted mainly of nobles who were more concerned with transforming the Church. In 1434 the Utraquists agreed to accept Sigismund's rule in return for religious tolerance; the Taborites kept fighting, only to be defeated in the same year at the Battle of Lipany.
Following Sigismund's death, George of Poděbrady (Jiří z Poděbrad) ruled as Bohemia's one and only Hussite king, from 1452 to 1471, with the backing of Utraquist forces. He was centuries ahead of his time in suggesting a European council to solve international problems by diplomacy rather than war, but he couldn't convince the major European rulers or the pope. After George's death two weak kings from the Polish Jagiellonian dynasty ruled Bohemia, though real power lay with the Utraquist nobles, the so-called Bohemian Estates.

Independence

Czechs had no interest in fighting for their Austrian masters in WWI, and neighbouring Slovaks felt the same about their Hungarian rulers. Many defected to renegade legions fighting against the Germans and Austrians.
Meanwhile Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, Edvard Beneš and the Slovak Milan Štefánik began to argue the case - especially in the USA with President Wilson - for the Czechs' and Slovaks' long-cherished dream of independence. Wilson's interest was in keeping with his own goal of closer ties with Europe under the aegis of the League of Nations (the unsuccessful precursor to the United Nations). The most workable solution appeared to be a single federal state of two equal republics, and this was spelled out in agreements signed in Cleveland in 1915 and then in Pittsburgh in 1918.
As WWI drew to a close Czechoslovakia declared its independence, with Allied support , on 28 October 1918. Prague became the capital, and the popular Masaryk, a writer and political philosopher, became the republic's first president.
On 1 January 1922 Greater Prague was established by the absorption of several surrounding towns and villages, growing to a city of 677, 000. Like the rest of the country, Prague experienced an industrial boom until the Great Depression of the 1930s . By 1938 the population had grown to one million.
Main sights
Since the fall of the Iron Curtain, Prague has become one of Europe's (and the world's) most popular tourist destinations. It is the sixth most-visited European city after London, Paris, Rome, Madrid and Berlin .[20] Prague suffered considerably less damage during World War II than some other major cities in the region, allowing most of its historic architecture to stay true to form. It contains one of the world's most pristine and varied collections of architecture, from Art Nouveau to Baroque, Renaissance, Cubist, Gothic, Neo- Classical and ultra -modern. Some popular sights include :

• Old Town (Staré Město) with its Old Town Square .
  
• The Astronomical Clock (Orloj) on Old Town Square.
  
• The picturesque Charles Bridge (Karlův Most).
  
• The vaulted Gothic Old New Synagogue (Staronová Synagoga) of 1270.
  
• New Town (Nové město) with its busy and historic Wenceslas Square.
  
• Malá Strana (Lesser Quarter) with its Infant Jesus of Prague.
  
• Prague Castle (Pražský hrad - the largest castle in the world) with its St. Vitus Cathedral.
  
• Josefov (the old Jewish quarter) with Old Jewish Cemetery and Old New Synagogue.
  
• Jan Žižka equestrian statue in Vítkov Park, Žižkov - Prague 3.
  
• The Lennon Wall .
  
• The Dancing House (Fred and Ginger Building ).
  Figure3. The Astronomical Clock on Old Town Square.
  

The Czech Republic

The Czech Republic made economic reforms such as fast privatizations. Annual gross domestic product growth has been around 6% until the outbreak of the recent global economic crisis. The country is the first former member of the Comecon to achieve the status of a developed country according to the World Bank (2006) and the Human Development Index (2009), which ranks it as a "Very High Human Development" nation .
The Czech Republic Česká republika short form Česko is a country in Central Europe.The country borders Poland to the northeast, Germany to the west and northwest, Austria to the south and Slovakia to the east . The Czech Republic has been a member of NATO since 1999 and of the European Union since 2004. The Czech Republic is also a member of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe ( OSCE ). As an OSCE participating State, the Czech Republic’s international commitments are subject to monitoring under the mandate of the U.S. Helsinki Commission. From 1 January 2009 to 1 July 2009, the Czech Republic held the Presidency of the Council of the European Union.
The Czech Republic is a pluralist multi - party parliamentary representative democracy. President Václav Klaus is the current head of state. The Prime Minister is the head of government (currently Jan Fischer). The Parliament has two chambers : the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate. It is also a member of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the Council of Europe and the Visegrád Group.
Figure4. European map.

List of famous people from Prague

There are a many famous people, who had lived in Prague. There are arts , monarchs, the sciences and sports .

The arts:

 Vladimír Holan (1905–1980) — poet; born, lived and died in Prague .
 Bohumil Hrabal (1914–1997) — writer; lived and died in Prague .
 Lída Baarová (1914–2000) — actress; lived and died in Prague.
 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791) — composer; some of his best opera successes were during his time in Prague.
 Hans Hampel (1822–1884) — composer.
The sciences:

• Tycho Brahe (1546– 1601 ) — astronomer; spent end of life near Prague.
  
• Johannes Kepler (1571–1630) — astronomer.
  
• Albert Einstein ( 1879 –1955) — physicist, served as professor at the German part of the Charles University in Prague (1911–1912).
  

In sports:

• František Plánička ( 1904 –1996) — football goalkeeper, captain of the Czechoslovakia national football team.
  
• Emil Zátopek (1922–2000) — athlete; lived and died in Prague.
  

Other fields:

• Jan Žižka (circa 1360–1424) — general and Hussite leader ; participated in start of the rebellion in Prague, later defended it against Crusaders.
  
• Jan Hus ( 1369 –1415) — priest , philosopher, reformer; most-important preaching done in Prague.
  

GEOGRAPHY
The Czech landscape is exceedingly varied. Bohemia, to the west, consists of a basin drained by the Elbe (Czech: Labe) and the Vltava (or Moldau) rivers , surrounded by mostly low mountains , such as the Krkonoše range of the Sudetes. The highest point in the country, Sněžka at 1,602 m (5,256 ft), is located here. Moravia, the eastern part of the country, is also quite hilly. It is drained mainly by the Morava River, but it also contains the source of the Oder River (Czech: Odra).

Water from the landlocked Czech Republic flows to three different seas: the North Sea, Baltic Sea and Black Sea. The Czech Republic also leases the Moldauhafen, a 30,000-square-metre (7.4-acre) lot in the middle of the Hamburg Docks, which was awarded to Czechoslovakia by Article 363 of the Treaty of Versailles, to allow the landlocked country a place where goods transported down river could be transferred to seagoing ships.
Phytogeographically, the Czech Republic belongs to the Central European province of the Circumboreal Region, within the Boreal Kingdom. According to the World Wide Fund for Nature , the territory of the Czech Republic can be subdivided into four ecoregions: the Central European mixed forests , Pannonian mixed forests, Western European broadleaf forests and Carpathian montane conifer forests. There are four national parks in the Czech Republic. The oldest is Krkonoše National Park (Biosphere Reserve ), Šumava National Park (Biosphere Reserve), National Park Podyjí, České Švýcarsko National Park.
WEATHER AND CLIMATE
The Czech Republic has a temperate continental climate, with relatively hot summers and cold, cloudy and snowy winters. Most rain falls during the summer. The temperature difference between summer and winter is relatively high, due to the landlocked geographical position .
Within the Czech Republic, temperatures vary greatly , depending on the elevation . In general, at higher altitudes, the temperatures decrease and precipitation increases . The wettest area in the Czech Republic is found around Bílý Potok in Jizera Mountains and the driest region is the Louny District to the northwest of Prague. Another important factor is the distribution of the mountains; therefore, the climate is quite varied.
At the highest peak of Sněžka (1,602 m/5,256 ft), the average temperature is only −0.4 °C (31.28 °F), whereas in the lowlands of the South Moravian Region, the average temperature is as high as 10 °C (50 °F). The country's capital, Prague, has a similar average temperature, although this is influenced by urban factors.
The coldest month is usually January, followed by February and December. During these months, there is usually snow in the mountains and sometimes in the major cities and lowlands. During March , April and May, the temperature usually increases rapidly, especially during April, when the temperature and weather tends to vary widely during the day. Spring is also characterized by high water levels in the rivers, due to melting snow with occasional flooding.
The warmest month of the year is July, followed by August and June. On average, summer temperatures are about 20 degrees higher than during winter. Especially in the last decade, temperatures above 30 °C (86 °F) are not unusual . Summer is also characterized by rain and storms.
Autumn generally begins in September, which is still relatively warm and dry. During October, temperatures usually fall below 15 °C (59 °F) or 10 °C (50 °F) and deciduous trees begin to shed their leaves. By the end of November, temperatures usually range around the freezing point.
POPULATION
According to the 2001 census, the vast majority of the inhabitants of the Czech Republic are Czech (94.24%). The most numerous national minorities are: Slovaks (1.89%); Poles (0.51%); Germans (0.38%); Ukrainians (0.22%); Vietnamese (0.17%); Hungarians (0.14%); Russians (0.12%); Romani (0.11%); Bulgarians (0.04%); and Greeks (0.03%).[27] According to some estimates, there are actually more than 200,000 Romani people in the Czech Republic.
There were 436,116 foreigners residing in the country in October 2009, according to the Czech Interior Ministry, with the largest groups being Ukrainian (132,481), Slovak (75,210), Vietnamese (61,102), Russian (29,976), Polish (19,790), German (14,156), Moldovan (10,315), Bulgarian (6,346), Mongolian (5,924), American (5,803), Chinese (5,314), British (4,461), Belarusian (4,441), Serbian (4,098), Romanian (4,021), Kazakh (3,896), Austrian (3,114), Italian (2,580), Dutch (2,553), French (2,356), Croatian (2,351), Bosnian (2,240), Armenian (2,021), Uzbek (1,969), Macedonian (1,787) and Japanese (1,581).
The Jewish population of Bohemia and Moravia, 118,000 according to the 1930 census, was virtually annihilated by the Nazis during the Holocaust.There were approximately 4,000 Jews in the Czech Republic in 2005. The Czech prime minister, Jan Fischer, is of Jewish origin and faith .
The fertility rate is a low 1.50 children per woman . Immigration increased the population by almost 1% in 2007. About 77,000 new foreigners settle down in the Czech Republic every year. Vietnamese immigrants began settling in the Czech Republic during the Communist period , when they were invited as guest workers by the Czechoslovak government. Today, there are an estimated 70,000 Vietnamese in the Czech Republic. In contrast to Ukrainians, Vietnamese come to the Czech Republic to live permanently.
At the turn of the 20th century, Chicago was the city with the third largest Czech population, after Prague and Vienna . According to the 2006 US census, there are 1,637,218 Americans of full or partial Czech descent.
CULTURE
Cuisine .
Czech cuisine is marked by a strong emphasis on meat dishes. Pork is quite common; beef and chicken are also popular. Goose, duck, rabbit and wild game are served. Fish is rare, with the occasional exception of fresh trout and carp , which is served at Christmas.
Aside from Slivovitz, Czech beer and wine, Czechs also produce two uniquely Czech liquors, Fernet Stock and Becherovka. Kofola is a non-alcoholic domestic cola soft drink which competes with Coca Cola and Pepsi in popularity.
Figure5. Cuisine. Figure6. Czech beer.
Kasutatud allikad:
www.google.com
http://www.lonelyplanet.com/czech-republic/prague
http://www.tripadvisor.com/Travel-g274707-c1403/Prague:Czech-Republic:Introduction.html
http://www.vse.cz/english/introduction.php
Neil Wilson, Mark Baker. „Prague“. USA Lonely Planet January 2009.
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