1 The capital of the Czech Republic , Prague is a beautiful city famous for its music , literature , and architecture .
1 Czech Praha city , capital of the Czech Republic .

1 The capital of the Czech Republic , Prague is a beautiful city famous for its music , literature , and architecture .
11 Prague is famous for its cultural life .

2 Its unusual skyline of church towers gives it the nickname City of a Hundred Spires .
8 Seen from the surrounding hills , the many church towers make up a unique perspective , giving Prague its description as the "city of a hundred spires."

4 Over the years , the city has spread across the surrounding hills , river valleys , and riverside terraces .
16 From its original small riverside settlements , Prague has spread over its hills , up river valleys , and along riverside terraces .

5 The Prague metropolitan area covers 192 square miles ( 496 square kilometers) .
17 The Prague metropolitan area covers 192 square miles ( 496 square kilometres) .

6 Prague is a centuries-old city with a wealth of historic landmarks .
4 The physical attractions and landmarks of Prague are many .

9 Next to the castle is St . Vitus ' Cathedral , begun in the 14th century but not completed until 1929 .
101 His reign also saw the growth of the planned New Town ( Nove mesto ) adjacent to the Old Town; construction of the Charles Bridge ( 1357 , reconstructed in 1970 ) linking the Old Town and the Mala Strana; and the beginning ( 1344 ) of the great St . Vitus ' Cathedral , which was not completed until 1929 .

11 Below the castle is the Lesser Quarter ( Mala Strana ) , founded in 1257 and rebuilt after major fires in the 15th and 16th centuries .
97 On the opposite bank , under the walls of Hradcany , the community known as Mala Strana ( literally , "Small Side" ) was founded in 1257 .

12 Charles Bridge , which dates from 1357 , connects the Lesser Quarter to the Old Town ( Stare Mesto ) across the Vltava River .
101 His reign also saw the growth of the planned New Town ( Nove mesto ) adjacent to the Old Town; construction of the Charles Bridge ( 1357 , reconstructed in 1970 ) linking the Old Town and the Mala Strana; and the beginning ( 1344 ) of the great St . Vitus ' Cathedral , which was not completed until 1929 .

23 Prague is famous for its active and varied cultural life .
11 Prague is famous for its cultural life .

24 The city is home to two orchestras -- the Prague Symphony and the Czech Philharmonic -- and hosts an international music festival each spring .
65 Prague has a renowned and active musical life , which reaches a high point each year in the internationally known spring music festival .

33 The former Jewish section of the city contains an old town hall , several synagogues , a cultural museum , and one of the oldest Jewish cemeteries in Europe , dating from the 15th century .
74 The Old-New Synagogue and the tumbling , crowded gravestones of the Old Jewish Cemetery -- Europe's oldest -- betoken the strong Jewish tradition in Prague life .

35 Prague is the site of the oldest university in Central Europe , Charles University .
58 There are several institutions of higher education in Prague , but by far the most famous is Charles University , founded in 1348 and the oldest in central Europe .

36 Founded in 1348 , the school continues to offer courses .
58 There are several institutions of higher education in Prague , but by far the most famous is Charles University , founded in 1348 and the oldest in central Europe .

39 Prague is the economic center of the Czech Republic .
2 Lying at the heart of Europe , it is one of the continent's finest cities and the major Czech economic and cultural centre .

40 Textile and machinery industries were developed in the city early in the 19th century .
30 Though Prague is renowned for its cultural life and monuments , it has also played an important role in the economic life of what is now the Czech Republic since the early and intensive development in the 19th century of such industries as those producing textiles and machinery .

41 Today , most people in the city still work in the manufacture of products such as machinery , vehicles , electronics , chemical , and processed foods .
33 In manufacturing , the production of machinery occupies the majority of workers , followed , in about equal numbers , by the production of food , electronics , and chemicals .

44 For thousands of years trade routes linking Northern and Southern Europe crossed the area that is now Prague .
82 For thousands of years that portion of the Vltava's course where Prague was to rise was crossed by trade routes linking northern and southern Europe .

45 The earliest recorded settlement at Prague dates from the 9th century .
86 The first settlement at what is now Prague has been traced to the second half of the 9th century .

47 Prague became a major city in the 14th century .
104 By the 14th century Prague had become a major central European city , with the Czech money minted at nearby Kutna Hora serving as the hard currency of the entire region .

48 John of Luxembourg became king of Bohemia , the historic country in which Prague was located .
98 Following the eclipse of the Premyslids , the house of Luxembourg came to power when John of Luxembourg , son of the future emperor Henry VII , became king of Bohemia .

49 His son , Charles IV , became Holy Roman Emperor in 1355 and had his capital at Prague .
99 His son , Charles IV , Bohemian king and Holy Roman emperor , had his capital at Prague from 1346 to 1378 and took considerable personal interest in the development of the city .

51 In the 15th century Prague came to be controlled more and more by German and Italian merchants who settled there .
105 Foreign merchants , notably Germans and Italians , became economically and politically powerful in uneasy alliance with the kings .

54 The Austrian Hapsburg family gained control in the 16th century .
113 In 1526 , however , the Roman Catholic Habsburgs became rulers of Bohemia and attempted to crush Czech Protestantism .

55 In 1618 a revolt against the Hapsburgs at Hradcany castle was one of the events that began the Thirty Years ' War , which led to changed borders across Europe .
114 The second Defenestration of Prague ( 1618 ) , when the governors of Bohemia were thrown from the windows of the council room in Hradcany -- one of the major events precipitating the Thirty Years ' War -- was followed by the decisive defeat of Protestant forces at the Battle of the White Mountain , near the city , in 1620 .

56 War and outbreaks of disease in the 17th century led to the decline of the city as a cultural and political center .
115 Twenty-seven Prague commoners and Czech noblemen were executed on the Staromestske Square in 1621; the city ceased to be the capital of the empire , was occupied by Saxons ( 1631 ) and Swedes ( 1648 ) , and went into a decline hastened by two outbreaks of plague .

57 In the 18th century Prague's economy and population began to grow again , and there was a revival of culture .
116 The return of more settled conditions in central Europe was marked by renewed economic growth , and Prague's population grew from 40,000 in 1705 to more than 80,000 by 1771 .

59 During the 19th century the Industrial Revolution had a major effect on Prague .
120 The onset of the Industrial Revolution had major effects in Prague .

61 The opening of its first railway in 1845 led to further expansion .
122 The population exceeded 100,000 by 1837 , and expansion continued after the city received its first railway eight years later .

64 Prague was made the capital .
127 In 1918 Prague became the capital of the newly independent Czechoslovak republic .

70 The invasion stopped the reform movement , which became known as the Prague Spring .
134 The so-called Prague Spring of 1968 , a short-lived excursion into liberalized social and governmental controls attempted by the government of Alexander Dubcek , was terminated by Soviet military action in August of that year .

72 In 1989 large demonstrations in favor of democracy took place in Wenceslas Square .
135 In November 1989 , Prague's Wenceslas Square became the cradle of the movement that swiftly ended four decades of communist rule in Czechoslovakia .

73 The gatherings helped put an end to four decades of Communist rule in Czechoslovakia .
135 In November 1989 , Prague's Wenceslas Square became the cradle of the movement that swiftly ended four decades of communist rule in Czechoslovakia .

74 When Czechoslovakia itself broke up into the Czech Republic and Slovakia in 1993 , Prague became the capital of the Czech Republic .
139 When Czechoslovakia itself was dissolved into its constituent republics on January 1 , 1993 , Prague maintained its prominent international status as capital of the Czech Republic .