PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC

Prague is the capital and largest city of Czech Republic, and is among leading European commercial and industrial centres. Prague is also the seat of a Roman Catholic archbishop and Eastern Orthodox archbishop. Educational and cultural institutions in the city include Charles University (1347), one of the oldest and most famous European Universities; a technical university (1707); the Czech Academy of Sciences; the National Gallery; the National Museum, and many other museums and theatres. The earliest settlements date from the 9^th century, and the city achieved real prominence after King Wenceslaus I of Bohemia established a German settlement there. From the 14^th to the 17^th century, the emperors of the Holy Roman Empire resided at Prague as well as at Vienna. In late 16^th and early 17th century, Prague shone as a centre of science, where the astronomers Tycho Brahe and Johannes Kepler worked. It was also the city of Rilke, Kafka, Smetana, Dvorak, and Capek. Prague was important during the Thirty Years War: the Defenestrating of Prague opened the hostilities surrounding the Thirty Years War (1618), and the Treaty of Prague (1635) attempted to end it; hostilities finally ended in 1648, when a section of the city was occupied by the Swedes. Prague was occupied 1939-45 by the Germans and suffered great hardship in World War II.