Page:Guide to the Bohemian section and to the Kingdom of Bohemia - 1906.djvu/73



ncient Prague, the great; at one time the glorious metropolis of the kingdom of Bohemia, originated without an arbitrary plan, it grew through successive periods, receiving the distinctive impress of each age, and thus we can read much of the city's history in its walls public buildings, castles and palaces. The architectural features are very characteristic, in one part aristocratic; in another showing the less pretentious style of the dwellings inhabited by the burgher or citizen class; but whether it be palace, or abode of the humblest resident, they each and all are of such striking and attractive appearance, that they never fail to arrest the interested attention of visitors.

In the time of the Přemysl dynasty the ROMAN style of building prevailed, the exceptions being the monastery of St. Agnes, and the renowned old synagogue. But soon after, the Luxembourgs coming from the west, led to the introduction of the GOTHIC style of architecture which other countries had already been adopted and generally favoured.

The short epoch of the two kings of the Jagailo famly, left us the fine forms of the specifically BOHEMIAN GOTHIC OF WLADISLAUS in a series of remarkable architectural monuments. The change from this style, which in the natural