50 Fun Facts About Prague

Prague sits on which river?

It flows into the Elbe north of the city; Smetana's tone poem about the river is known abroad as The Moldau.

Prague is nicknamed the City of a Hundred Spires after a count by which 19th-century mathematician?

Today's estimate is around 500 spires; other nicknames are the Golden City and the Mother of Cities.

Which legendary prophetess foresaw Prague as 'a great city whose glory will touch the stars'?

Her husband Premysl founded the Premyslid dynasty; she prophesied from the fort at Vysehrad.

The first bridge over Prague's river, built in 1170, was named after whom?

The Judith Bridge was destroyed by a flood in 1342, and Charles Bridge replaced it.

Charles IV, who made Prague an imperial capital from 1346, belonged to which new royal dynasty?

He laid out the New Town himself, founded the university and started the cathedral and the bridge that carries his name; the Premyslids had died out in 1306.

Charles University, founded in 1348, holds what distinction?

It is the third-oldest north of the Alps after Oxford and Cambridge; Jan Hus was once its rector.

Charles Bridge's first stone was reputedly laid at a minute chosen because the date and time digits formed what?

The emperor believed the numerical bridge would strengthen the stone one; it was simply the Stone Bridge until 1870.

How many statues line Charles Bridge?

Mostly baroque and erected around 1700, all have now been swapped for replicas; the bridge was the only river crossing until 1841.

The Hunger Wall south of Mala Strana was reputedly built in the 1360s for what purpose?

The emperor's make-work project gave labourers and their families food during a famine.

Which Prague preacher and university rector was burned at the stake in Konstanz in 1415?

His death sparked the Hussite Wars; four years later Prague had its first defenestration.

The 1618 Defenestration of Prague triggered which conflict?

Catholics said angels caught the men; Protestants later claimed they landed on a dung heap, a story unknown at the time.

How many 'defenestrations of Prague' does Wikipedia count, in 1419, 1483 and 1618?

The 1483 event is often overlooked, which is why the 1618 one is commonly called the second.

Which Habsburg emperor moved his court to Prague in 1583 and filled it with alchemists?

Tycho Brahe, Johannes Kepler, Arcimboldo, John Dee and Edward Kelley all worked in his Prague.

Which 1620 clash just outside Prague crushed the Bohemian revolt and Frederick V, the 'Winter King'?

The city's population fell from 60,000 to 20,000 over the war that followed.

According to Guinness, Prague's Hradcany complex is the world's largest what?

It covers almost 70,000 square metres and houses the president, the Bohemian crown jewels and St Vitus Cathedral.

St Vitus Cathedral was begun in 1344; when was it finally finished?

It was completed for the millennium of St Wenceslas, nearly 600 years after the first stone.

The astronomical clock on Old Town Hall was created in which year?

Mikulas of Kadan and Jan Sindel built it; the legend that a maker named Hanus was blinded so he could never repeat it is a later mistake.

Which figure on the astronomical clock strikes the hour and starts the Walk of the Apostles?

The rooster crows at the end; the other moving figures include Vanity with a mirror and a Miser with a purse.

Prague's most famous golem was said to be made from river clay by which rabbi?

The Maharal reportedly switched it off each Friday evening by removing the shem so it could rest on the Sabbath.

Graves in Prague's Old Jewish Cemetery are stacked up to how many layers deep?

The oldest stone, from 1439, belongs to the rabbi and poet Avigdor Kara; lack of space forced burials on top of burials.

Which Empress expelled the Jews from Prague in 1745, only to rescind the order three years later?

By 1708 Jews had made up about a quarter of Prague's population; the proportion never recovered.

Which two Mozart operas premiered at Prague's Estates Theatre?

Prague adored Mozart; the Estates Theatre later stood in for Vienna in the film Amadeus.

Wenceslas Square was known until 1848 as what?

It is really a 750-metre boulevard; a baroque statue of St Wenceslas stood there from 1680.

The 'Good King Wenceslas' of the carol was a 10th-century Duke of Bohemia murdered by whom?

Boleslaus the Cruel had him killed in 935; his grandmother Ludmila had been murdered too and both became saints.

Who took up residence in Prague Castle as first president of the new state created after World War I?

By 1930 the capital's population had risen to 850,000.

Which senior Nazi was assassinated in Prague in 1942 during Operation Anthropoid?

Czechoslovak parachutists Jozef Gabcik and Jan Kubis carried it out; Hitler had proclaimed the Protectorate from Prague Castle in 1939.

Prague's giant Stalin monument, built in 1955, was destroyed in which year?

A giant metronome now stands on the plinth.

Who led the reforms of the 1968 Prague Spring as First Secretary of the Communist Party?

'Socialism with a human face' ended when the Warsaw Pact invaded on 21 August 1968.

Which two Warsaw Pact members did NOT join the 1968 invasion of Czechoslovakia?

Soviet troops stayed until 1991; Jan Palach and Jan Zajic burned themselves to death in protest in early 1969.

The Velvet Revolution began after riot police broke up a student march on which date in 1989?

Within six weeks Dubcek was speaker of parliament and Vaclav Havel president.

Vaclav Havel was elected president of Czechoslovakia on which date?

Prague's airport was renamed for him in 2012, the year after his death.

Prague became capital of the new Czech Republic in 1993 after what event?

Czechoslovakia split peacefully into the Czech Republic and Slovakia; the historic centre had joined the UNESCO list in 1992.

In which year did severe floods damage Prague's buildings and metro?

The river overwhelmed the city; the zoo lost animals and metro stations were submerged.

Prague-born Franz Kafka wrote in which language?

He was born in 1883 into a German-speaking Jewish family in what was then Austria-Hungary.

The Petrin lookout of 1891 is often described as a small version of what?

At 63.5 metres it is a fraction of the original's height, but it stands on a hill so its top is higher above sea level.

The Dancing House, completed in 1996, was designed by Vlado Milunic with which star architect?

Gehry called it Ginger and Fred, then dropped the name for fear of importing 'Hollywood kitsch'; the restaurant kept it.

Prague Zoo is famous for helping save which endangered animal?

For years it was the leading breeder, and horses have been flown back to the Mongolian steppe.

The Lennon Wall in Mala Strana is owned by which organisation?

A mural appeared after Lennon's 1980 murder and the wall became a rare outlet for free expression under communism.

The Prague Metro, opened in 1974, has how many lines?

Lines A, B and C form a triangle with interchanges at Florenc, Mustek and Muzeum; Namesti Miru is the deepest station at 52 m.

Prague's Strahov sports ground holds what record?

It hosted the mass gymnastic Spartakiads between 1955 and 1990.

Brewing in Prague dates back to 993 at which monastery?

Staropramen and the U Fleku brewpub are among the historic breweries still going.

The Klementinum weather station has recorded daily temperatures continuously since which year?

It is probably the second-oldest continuous station in Europe.

Which Hollywood film is listed first among those shot in Prague?

Barrandov Studios has drawn Blade II, xXx and a string of Bollywood productions.

In 2017 Prague ranked as the fifth most visited European city after London, Paris, Rome and which other?

More than 8.5 million international visitors came that year; almost half of Czech tourism income is spent in Prague.

Prague's population of about 1.4 million makes it which-largest city in the European Union?

Mobile-phone data suggest the real population is closer to two million because many residents never register.

In which year did Rudolf II, held prisoner in Prague, cede the Bohemian crown to his brother?

Matthias took over; the deposed emperor died the following year, still in Prague.

A legend in the Chronica Boemorum derives the name Praha from the Czech word práh, meaning what?

Josef Dobrovský's 18th-century theory instead read the old Slavic word as 'ford' or 'rapid', pointing to the Vltava crossing.

Which German archbishopric held jurisdiction over Prague until 1344?

Prague had been a bishopric since 973 under Duke Boleslaus II the Pious.

Under which Habsburg emperor were Prague's four towns merged into a single city in 1784?

Malá Strana, Nové Město, Staré Město and Hradčany were united; the Jewish district Josefov only joined in 1850.

Roughly how many public transport passenger journeys does Prague record each year?

The integrated PID network spans the metro, trams, buses, commuter trains, funiculars and seven ferries.