Prague (Ger. Prag, Czech Praha), the capital of Bohemia, and the third largest town of Austria-Hungary, is situated at the base and on the slope of the hills which skirt both sides of the isleted Moldau, 217 miles by rail NNW. of Vienna and 118 SSE. of Dresden. It offers a highly picturesque appearance from the beauty of its site, and the numerous lofty towers (more than seventy in number) which rise above the many noble palaces, public buildings, and bridges of the city. The fortifications have been gradually demolished since 1866. The royal Burg, on the Hradschin (240 feet), the ancient residence of the Dukes of Bohemia, dates mainly now from the 16th and 17th centuries, and has 440 rooms. The neighbouring cathedral of St Vitus (1344) is still unfinished, though building was resumed in 1867. Here are the splendid royal mausoleum (1589) and the shrine (1736) of St John of Nepomuk (q.v.), containing ton of silver. Of forty-seven other Catholic churches the chief are the domed Jesuit church of St Nicolas, with its lavish decorations, and the Teyn church (1407), the old Hussite church, with the grave of Tycho Brahe, and its marble statues of the Slavonic martyrs, Cyril and Methodius. Of five bridges and two railway viaducts the most striking is the Karlsbrücke (1357-1503), 543 yards long, with gate-towers at either end, and statues of John of Nepomuk and other saints. It was greatly damaged by flood in September 1890, but has since been restored. Other noteworthy objects are the town-hall (1381-1884), the Pulverturm (1475), the new Czech Theatre (1883), the old Jewish graveyard, the Theresa Institution for Ladies, the vast Černi Palace (now used as barracks), the Picture-gallery, and the Premonstratensian monastery of Strahov. Prague has, besides, numerous public gardens and walks in the suburbs, with several royal and noble parks open to the public in the vicinity of the city. The suburb of Karolinenthal, which is traversed by the great viaduct of the railway, and is of modern growth, has some fine buildings, numerous gardens, barracks, and manufacturing establishments; and somewhat farther north is the great botanical garden, with the neighbouring public walks on the Moldau. The university, founded in 1348, had 10,000 students at the beginning of the 15th century; but subsequently it had a long period of decay. It received a new constitution in 1881, having now two co-ordinate sides or sections, one German and one Czech, with respectively 156 and 140 teachers, and 1470 and 2361 students. It possesses a library of 195,000 volumes and 3800 manuscripts, a fine observatory, museums of zoology and anatomy, a botanical garden, &c. The manufactures include machinery, chemicals, leather, cotton, linen, gloves, beer, spirits, &c. Prague is the great centre of the commerce of Bohemia, and the seat of an important transit trade. Pop. with suburbs (1880) 293,822; (1890) 310,483; of the town proper (1890) 182,530, of whom 81 per cent. were Czechs, 2 per cent. Protestants, and 10 per cent. Jews.
History.—Prague was founded, according to popular tradition, in 722 by the Duchess Libussa, but really by German settlers about 1100. In the 14th century its munificently endowed university brought foreigners to it from every part; but in 1424 Prague was conquered and almost destroyed by the Hussites, who had made a successful stand against the Emperor Sigismund's army. In the Thirty Years' War it suffered severely, and in 1620 the battle was fought at the Weissenberg, near the city, in which the Elector-Palatine, Frederick V. (q.v.), was completely defeated, and compelled to renounce his assumed crown. Swedes and Imperialists successively gained possession of the town during the war; and a century later it again fell into the hands of different victors, having been compelled in 1744 to capitulate to Frederick the Great, who here on 6th May 1757 defeated 60,000 Austrians under Prince Charles of Lorraine. Until the downfall of Napoleon the city continued to suffer more or less directly from the troubles in which the House of Austria was involved. Since then, however, it has made rapid strides, and enjoyed prosperity and quiet, except in 1848, when the meeting of the Slavonic Congress within its walls called forth such strongly marked democratic demonstrations on the part of the supporters of Panslavism (q.v.) that the Austrian government dissolved the conclave, and restored quiet by the summary method of causing the old and new town to be bombarded for two days. In 1866 Prague was occupied bloodlessly by the Prussians, who here on 23d August concluded a treaty with Austria. The jealousy subsisting between the Czech and the German population was strongly accentuated on the occasion of the Exhibition of 1891. See Statistisches Handbuch der Hauptstadt Prag (3 vols. 1882-86).