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Prague – A Gateway to History

While you may think your Prague airport shuttle will just be getting you to your accommodation, it also serves another very important purpose – that of delivering you to the heart of one of Europe’s most historic and beautiful cities. It’s no exaggeration to say that you could fill a library talking about the history of the Czech Republic and Prague, but here we’ll have to make do with just a short summary.

Middle Ages

This is an ancient city in an equally ancient landscape, of which you can gain your first glimpse as you drive past on the Prague airport shuttle. Leaving to one side pre-history, from the early Middle Ages the embryonic city grew up around its world-famous and iconic castle. For a mixture of political and economic reasons, the original inhabitants, who were predominantly of Slavic origin, invited people from parts of Europe that would eventually become Germany, to move there.

The city flourished in artistic, economic and scientific terms (e.g. Tycho Brahe and Johannes Kepler) as a result. Sitting at the heart of the old Holy Roman Empire, it became one of the richest and most important cities in Europe and a cosmopolitan multi-cultural and multi-lingual crossroads.

Today, the legacies of that rich and diverse heritage can be seen from the moment you arrive in the city – and you may even pass many on your Prague airport shuttle. Ancient buildings, beautiful vistas and a cultured lifestyle are all a testament to what some people call the ‘golden age of Bohemia’. From its almost impossibly beautiful old Town Square, Mala Strana, to the Vitava River, you will encounter fantastic architecture that will transport you to past centuries and diverse cultural influences.

More modern history

Sadly, like much of Europe, from the 17th century onwards things began to change as the concept of nationalism came into being and religious strife became the norm. The city suffered badly, as did Bohemia as a whole. Increasingly drawn into the orbit of Austria to begin with, the political and economic centre of gravity shifted to the west. The city settled down to a busy and prosperous life, though perhaps insulated a little from the major traumas that periodically shook Europe apart over the following years. That slightly faded grand ambience changed quickly as a result of World War I, as, by then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the city was drawn in on the losing side of Germany.

The 20th century legacy

At the end of the war, mass changes in Europe saw the city and country taken away from Austria and incorporated with Slovakia into the new state of Czechoslovakia. The Slovaks and Czechs share a similar language but there are significant differences between them. Most Czechs are of no particular religion (or are only notionally Protestant or Catholic) whereas most Slovaks are firmly Catholic. Czechs, due to their links to Austria, tended to look culturally westwards, whereas Slovaks, due to their historical links to Hungary, look eastwards.

So, like many artificial creations, Czechoslovakia faced a difficult future. That was made far worse following Nazi Germany’s annexation in the 1930s and the suffering of the city, and particularly its Jewish inhabitants, is appalling to read of. After the war, the state became part of the ‘Eastern Block’ and very much under the sway of Soviet influences, though the old Czech spirit of radicalism and freedom of suppression couldn’t be subdued. That led to the now famous ‘Prague Spring’ of 1968 and its subsequent brutal suppression by the Soviet Warsaw Pact.

Finally in this long saga, the collapse of the old Soviet Union led to the city regaining, for the first time in many decades, a true freedom. Sadly, some of the old ‘uneasy marriage’ issue with Slovakia subsequently led to an amicable parting of the ways and the city became the modern capital of The Czech Republic.

Does all this history matter to visitors? In one sense perhaps not, because the beauty of the city speaks for itself, but it can help put that beauty into historical context. That humble Prague airport shuttle will whisk you to a town with most fascinating roots – this is just a taste.

Lukas Johannes 

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