Page:Guide to the Bohemian section and to the Kingdom of Bohemia - 1906.djvu/76

58 unchanged. So are the quaint streets „Celetná“ and „Karlova“ in the old town, and the „Nerudova“ in the „Malá Strana“, they are excellent to the palaces of the nobility and old time residence of the kings who in the past made their pompous processions to the Cathedral of St. Vitus.

There is also in the Old Town, the great market place and the Týn church, at one time the cathedral of the Bohemian Utraquists, this too, is a monumental leaf in the history of the burghers.

The Malá Strana and the Hradčany with the cathedral on the other hand are more intimately connected with the history of the dynasty. But where in the past there were brilliant throngs of Courtiers, there now reigns a silent loneliness. The grounds of Hradčany and Malá Strana are now laid out as parks, the most beautiful and picturesque gardens of Prague.

If Malá Strana does not enjoy the royal and courtly patronage as of old, it can still glory, in the unique character of its architecture. The busy life of the ancient town beneath the Castle has passed away-so far as courtly life is concerned, and Prague which has been the scene of many events in the history of Europe, has become a commercial city and at the same time the centre of Bohemian art life. This has led to the great extension of the modern town, but the historic part of the city with its ancient buildings and monuments is well preserved. In the neighbourhood of its Museum rich in objects of great interest, has grown up a new manufacturing town with all the signs of a vigourous commercial, and industrial life. A great metropolis has arisen in the course of about thirty years, with a community prosperous, a centre of every grade of education, providing the rising generation with mental equipment to enable them to take their part in the battle of life with a fair chance of coming out victors!

The history of the foundation of Prague is much veiled by myths, nevertheless it appears that the town must have been already in prehistoric times the centre of Bohemia.