In the Shadow of the Cathedral
Right in the middle of the government offices, and overshadowing them, rises the Cathedral of S. Vitus. It stands on the site of at least two earlier churches, one of which, a round Romanesque building is said to have been built by S. Wenceslaus, prince and martyr, a contemporary of Athelstan, the Saxon king of England. The present building was begun by Matthew of Arras, whom Charles IV. had brought with him from France, some time about the middle of the fourteenth century; it has not yet reached completion.

For many centuries the cathedral consisted of little more than the chancel, rich in monuments of stone and wrought iron; and above all in the chapel to the princely founder, Wenceslaus. The nave has just been finished, happily all in the purest Gothic style, and according to the plans of Master Matthew; so now this glorious pile, almost completed, crowns the dominating height of the Hradcany in a marvel of symmetry unsurpassed, if even equalled, by any other such sight in Europe.

PRAGUE. Many memories of ancient splendour linger about the Gothic Cathedral of S. Vitus, where Bohemia’s kings were crowned, and the vast palace, now the residence of the president of the Czechoslovak Republic

Beauty even from Factories
Clinging to the flanks of the Castle Hill, and clustering round its foot, are red-roofed palaces amid old-world gardens and churches – that of “Our Lady under the Chain,” gutted in the Hussite wars, its squat towers rising above a sea of verdure, that of S. Thomas with tapering spire, and the great Jesuit temple dedicated to S. Nicholas, its copper dome and graceful campanile soaring high above the housetops, a monument to the defeat of Bohemia’s army at the hands of the Empire in 1620. This district of Prague is called the “Malá Strana,” the Small Side, and was for centuries a self-contained borough until the town spread out to include the village of Smíchow, now an industrious suburb with many factories that send their volumes of smoke down stream on the evening breeze to wreath ancient and modern Prague about with a diaphanous shroud.

The connexion between the Hradcany and Vyšehrad was maintained by means of a bridge; the earliest one of wood, a later eleventh century one of stone which, broken by floods, was replaced by the present glorious structure, the work building, is said to have been built by of Charles IV. Ancient bridge-head towers still stand as silent witnesses to the stirring events which made up the life of Prague, the passage of kings and emperors, fierce fights between contending religious factions, between marauding Swedes and the stout defenders of the city.

PRAGUE. The several bridges which span the Vltava’s broad flood are well worthy to adorn one of Europe’s most ancient and beautiful cities. Upstream, beyond the Chain Foot Bridge and New Bridge, may be seen the long, many-arched Charles Bridge, famous since its foundation in 1357

PRAGUE. The garden of Vrbovsky, near Carmelite Street, affords an unimpeded view of the dome of S. Nicholas, the former Jesuit church

PRAGUE. Built in 1475 by King Vladislav, the Powder Tower is one of many similar structures which rise in Bohemia’s venerable capital

PRAGUE. Before the terrace of the Bohemian Museum stretches the foliage-fringed Václavské Namesti, its wide, straight course dominated by a mounted figure of Václav, or Wenceslaus, Bohemia’s saintly prince

A new settlement had grown up on the right bank of the Vltava well before the fourteenth century began, and yet another between it and Vyšehrad, known to this day as Old and New Town respectively. Each of these towns enjoyed a separate entity with municipal and other civil authorities and buildings appropriate to the purpose of such bodies. A winding street named Carlova Ulice after Charles IV. leads from the bridge he built, under the shadow of gabled houses, to the heart of the Old Town where overlooking an open space known as Old Town Square stands the medieval town-hall.

Church of Our Lady of Tyn
An historic site this open space, for here those Protestant leaders of Bohemia, twenty-one in number, who had not fled the country after the Battle of the White Mountain, met martyrdom. The rays of the rising sun cast over this historic site long shadows from the towers and pinnacles of the church of “Our Lady of Tyn,” which has served as the principal church of the Old Town since 1310. The show entrance to this church is on the north side, tucked away in a narrow alley, a Gothic archway of great beauty; it is opened only on the rarest occasions.

Though Gothic architecture seems to strike the dominant note among the glories of Prague, yet you may find here and there exquisite examples of later art; and of these the most lovely stands in a garden on a high ridge to westward of the Castle Hill and separated from it by the deep ravine already mentioned. This is the Belvedere, the work of Giovanni di Spazzio, a beautiful example of early Renaissance art with its airy loggias, its wrought architrave and long domed roof. Ferdinand of Austria had it built for Anna his queen, daughter of Vladislav II., whose son Louis perished at the battle of Mohacs and thus left the succession to the throne of Bohemia to a Hapsburg.

New buildings are growing up around Vyšehrad, the site of the first Slavonic settlement, suburbs are spreading out into the country and the hill on which Ziska the Hussite won a famous victory is now covered with factories and workmen’s dwellings. Electric trams clang along broad new thoroughfares by the embankments of the river and wind their way through a maze of old world alleys and through an ancient gateway.

Reverence for an Ancient City
Yet the more Prague seems to change, to outward appearance, the more resolutely does it retain its character the foundation of which was so truly laid many centuries ago. Whatever their differences, and they were many, the mixed races which inhabit Prague – Czechs, Germans, Jews – have one aim in common, progress, have one sentiment in common, love and reverence for their ancient and beautiful city.

Like other great cities of the world Prague has passed through great tribulations. There was a golden time when Prague was a centre of high culture, of exquisite refinement in arts and crafts, of international trading. For some centuries Prague lay eclipsed, set aside from the great doings of the world, but the light of learning still burnt steadily, arts and crafts still flourished though others reaped the benefit, and trade was deflected into other channels. Now Prague, as an independent capital, has come into its own again.

Discipline Taught by Adversity
The discipline through which the city has passed, the lessons learnt in the school of adversity, developed and strengthened its character. Thus reinforced, this city with its glorious past looks forward into a future full of promise, to an affirmation of its epithet, Golden Prague.