Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 19.djvu/682

Rh 658 PRAGUE among them that of St John Nepomuk, who earned his title to be regarded as the patron saint of bridges from the fact that he here allowed himself to be thrown into the Moldau at the order of King Wenceslaus rather than divulge the queen s confidences in the confessional (1393). The statue is regarded with great veneration and is visited by thousands of devotees on the saint s anniversary (16th May). The Altstadt, or old town, is the most densely populated part of Prague and the principal seat of traffic. Most of the streets are narrow and irregular, but the centre of the district is occupied by a spacious square called the Grosser Ring, and the side next the Moldau is bordered by wide quays embellished with handsome monuments to Charles IV. and Francis I. On one side of the Ring stands the town-house, to a great extent rebuilt, but still comprising part of the mediaeval structure that witnessed so many of the stormy scenes of Bohemian history. Opposite is the Teyn church, or old church of the Calixtine Hussites, built in 1407, and containing the tomb of Tycho Brahe, the Danish astronomer. Another interesting structure is the Late Gothic Pulverthurm, a relic of the old wall that once separated the Altstadt from the Neustadt. The Altstadt is .also the seat of the university and several other educa tional establishments. The university, founded by Charles IV. in 1348, was the first in the German empire, and was attended by 10,000 to 15,000 students, until invidious distinctions made between Bohemians and Germans led the latter to secede in a body and found academies for themselves in other parts of Germany. The institution, however, still ranks high among European seats of learning and numbers above 2600 students. Lectures are delivered both in Bohemian and in German, and students may graduate in either language. The faculties of medicine and law occupy the Carolinum near the town-hall, while those of theology and philosophy are established in the Clementinum, a huge old Jesuit college, which also com prises the university library (180,000 vols.), several chapels, a school, and the archiepiscopal seminary. The most con spicuous modern buildings are the civil courts, the savings bank, and the Rudolfinum, a large Renaissance edifice on the quay, containing an academy of art, a conservatorium for music, and an industrial museum. The church of the Knights of the Cross (Kreuzherrenkirche) is an imposing building modelled on St Peter s at Rome, and the palace of Count Clam Gallas is a tasteful Renaissance structure of 1701. Enclosed within the Altstadt is the Josephstadt, or Jewish quarter, a labyrinth of crowded and dingy streets, to which the Jews were strictly confined down to 1848. The Jewish colony of Prague is one of the most ancient in Europe ; the Jewish cemetery, with its thousands of closely-packed tombstones interspersed with shrubs and creeping plants, is one of the most curious sights in Prague. The Neustadt, or new town, surrounds the old town in the form of a semicircle, reaching the river both to the north and to the south of it. The site of the old Avail and moat that formerly separated the two quarters is now occupied by a line of the handsomest and busiest streets in Prague, and the rest of the Neustadt also consists of broad and well-built streets and squares. Conspicuous among the buildings are the numerous hospitals and asylums on the south side, forming a phalanx of charitable institutions that do great credit to the philanthropy of the citizens. The town-house, now used as a criminal court, is interesting as the spot where the Bohemian Hussite war was inaugurated by the hurling of several unpopular councillors from the window. Other noteworthy edifices are the Bohemian museum, the Bohemian technical college (1500 students), the magnificent new Bohemian theatre (erected at a cost of 200,000), arid the churches of Carlshof, Emmaus, and Maria Schnee. To the south the Neustadt is adjoined by the Wyscherad, or citadel, the oldest part of Prague. The original fortress was almost entirely destroyed by the Hussites, and the present fortifi cations are modern. The Kleinseite, or Little Prague, on the left bank of the Moldau, occupies the slopes of the Laurenzberg and the Hradschin and is the headquarters of the aristocratic and official classes. Like the Altstadt, its centre is formed by a &quot;ring,&quot; containing the large and handsome Jesuit church of St Nicholas and a fine monument to Marshal Radetzky. The most generally interesting of the numer ous palaces of the Bohemian noblesse is the Palace Wald- stein or Wallenstein, an extensive edifice built by the hero of the Thirty Years War and still occupied by his descendants. Kleinseite also contains the hall of the Bohemian diet and the residence of the statthalter or governor of Bohemia. To the north it ends in the plea sant promenades named after the crown-prince Rudolf, which stretch along the bank of the Moldau. The Hradschin, or castle hill, rises abruptly behind the Kleinseite to a height of about 240 feet. The imperial palace, a vast and irregular group of buildings crowning the height, is remarkable rather for its situation and extent than for architectural importance. It is said to have been founded by Princess Libussa, and was greatly enlarged by Charles IV. and others, but now offers little of a mediaeval character with the exception of two or three towers. Few of the 440 rooms it is said to contain are of any special interest ; in the council chamber is still pointed out the window from which the imperial council lors Martinitz and Slavata were hurled in 1618. Within the large court of the palace stands the cathedral of St Vitus, begun in 1344, in evident imitation of the cathedral of Cologne, but consisting of little more than the extensive Late Gothic choir (1385). Efforts are now being made to bring it to completion. The tower was originally 500 feet high, but lost two-fifths of its height by a fire. The interior enshrines several works of con siderable interest and value, such as the mausoleum of the Bohemian kings, a fine Renaissance work in alabaster and marble by Alex. Colin of Mechlin (1589) ; the shrine of St John Nepomuk, said to contain 1 1 tons of solid silver and the chapel of St Wenceslaus, the walls of which are encrusted with jasper, chalcedony, and amethyst. In the treasury are the Bohemian regalia. The palace precincts also enclose the church of St George, dating from the 1 2th century, and one of the few Romanesque edifices of which Prague can boast. To the west of the imperial palace is a wide square with three large palaces, one belonging to the archbishop of Prague. Farther on is another square, surrounded by the extensive palace of Count Czernin (now a barrack), a large Capuchin monastery, and the church of St Loretto, an imitation of the wandering Casa Santa. At the extreme west of this quarter, adjoining the wall, is the imposing monastery of Strahow, possessing a good collection of pictures and a large library. To the north of the imperial palace is a picturesque gorge called the Hirschgraben, beyond which are the palace gardens, con taining the Belvedere, a villa erected by Ferdinand I. in 1536, and considered one of the most tasteful reproduc tions of Italian architecture to the north of the Alps. Prague is unusually well supplied with public parks and gardens, as, in addition to those already mentioned, pleasure-grounds have been laid out on the islands in the Moldau, on the slopes of the Laurenzberg, and on part of the ground occupied by the old fortifications. Among the most popular resorts are the charming grounds of the Baumgarten, a mile to the north of the Kleinseite. Both the industry and the commerce of Bohemia have their