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Prague is the capital city and also the most important city of the Czech Republic. Its history reaches up to the paleolitic period somewhere about 7,000 years ago when the first tribes started to settle in this region. At the end of 11th century Prague was an important centre : “ The Jews living there have a lot of gold and silver, there are the richest merchants of all nations, the wealthiest bankers; there is a market full of plunder“ and during the whole middle ages Prague was admired thank to its cultural and commercial riches.
Not in vain Prague is called „one hundred tower city“ (in fact it has more than 500 towers), „the crown of the world“ , „golden city“ or „the stony dream“. Many important personalities like Beethoven, Mozart or Apollinaire discovered the charm of Prague and their admiration was justified. The historical centre of Prague dominated by the Prague castle attracts many tourists from all the world for its unique atmosphere now. The famous historical Prague centre with 866 hectares was included into the list of the World Cultural Heritage of UNESCO.
The present area of Prague is 496 sq. km with population of 1,2 milion. The whole city is divided into 57 districts, 22 of them marked Praha 1-22 have enlarged administrative competence. Prague is situated in Central European Zone (GMT + 1 ; it means from end October to mid March). From March to October one hour more is added – summer time. As an important tourist centre Prague offers a large scale of quality accommodation (see for example our offer). If you plan a journey to Prague for your easier orientation it is advisable to be informed about the traffic system in Prague, important sites, prices and banks, postal and phone services.
The name Praha
The name Praha (Prague) was probably derived from the word „práh“ (doorstep). One explanation of its origin says that the city was named from the river sluice (práh in Czech), which was situated on the Vltava river in the place of today´s Charles bridge. People waded it at the time when no bridge connected both banks. The legend about the foundation of Prague says that the name of Prague was given to it by the princess Libuše who ordered to build the city in the place where a settler was just hewing „práh“ (doorstep) for his house. From 1784 the city was officially called the Royal Capital City of Prague, since 1920 Capital City of Prague.
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