Czech history in seven days
One short walk a day, in order, from the first fort on the castle hill to the Velvet Revolution. 47 stops in Prague, each with its own words.
Day 1. Legends, saints and the first castle
7 stops, about 50 minutes of walking
From the first fort on the castle hill to the founding of the Lesser Town and the Old Town. Princes, a murdered saint and a bridge that fell in a flood.
Stops: Hradčany Square. The beginning, Basilica of Saint George, Saint Vitus Cathedral. The murdered prince, Lesser Town Square. A new town, Charles Bridge. The bridge before the bridge, Havelské Market. The Old Town grows, Old Town Square. The marketplace of the kingdom.
Day 2. Charles the Fourth and the golden age
7 stops, about 49 minutes of walking
The king who became emperor and built a university, a bridge, a cathedral and a whole new town. Prague becomes the capital of the Holy Roman Empire.
Stops: Old Town Bridge Tower, Knights of the Cross Square, The Carolinum. The first university, Můstek and the New Town, Church of Our Lady of the Snows, Charles Square, Emmaus Monastery.
Day 3. Jan Hus and the Hussite revolution
6 stops, about 42 minutes of walking
A preacher who spoke Czech, a fire in Constance, and a people who rose in arms. The story of the Czech Reformation, from the Bethlehem Chapel to the first defenestration.
Stops: Bethlehem Chapel. The preacher, The Carolinum. The rector, Old Town Square. The fire in Constance, Týn Church. The Hussite church, Church of Our Lady of the Snows. The radical preacher, New Town Hall. The first defenestration.
Day 4. Habsburgs, rebellion and war
8 stops, about 49 minutes of walking
From the window of the castle to the white mountain and the old town scaffold. How a quarrel in Prague started a war that destroyed half of Europe.
Stops: Old Royal Palace. The second defenestration, Wallenstein Palace, Church of Our Lady Victorious, Lesser Town Bridge Towers, Old Town Bridge Tower. The heads of the leaders, Clementinum. The Jesuits, Old Town Square. The twenty seven crosses, The Marian Column. The Catholic victory.
Day 5. The national revival
6 stops, about 66 minutes of walking
How a language that was almost forgotten became the language of a nation. Opera, dictionaries, a theatre built from donations, and a revolution in 1848.
Stops: Estates Theatre. Mozart and the first Czech opera, Jungmann Square. The language, National Theatre. A theatre from donations, Žofín. The Slavic Congress of 1848, Rudolfinum, Municipal House. The end of an age.
Day 6. The first republic and the war
5 stops, about 39 minutes of walking
The birth of Czechoslovakia in 1918, twenty years of democracy, the German occupation, and the Prague Uprising in May 1945.
Stops: Municipal House. 28 October 1918, Woodrow Wilson Monument, Petschek Palace. The Gestapo, Wenceslas Square. March 1939 and May 1945, Old Town Hall. The Prague Uprising.
Day 7. Communism and the Velvet Revolution
8 stops, about 77 minutes of walking
The takeover of 1948, the Prague Spring and the tanks of 1968, the quiet years of fear, and the revolution that ended it all in November 1989.
Stops: National Museum. August 1968, Jan Palach Memorial, Museum of Communism. The long normalisation, Lucerna Palace, Národní Street. 17 November 1989, Café Slavia. The dissidents, Memorial to the Victims of Communism, The Lennon Wall. The last stop.
The whole journey in Prago
The journey is part of the Prago guide: each day opens with a line about the period, and every stop speaks when you reach it. It works offline. Coming soon to the App Store.