Czech Republic

Description

Learn about Prague's 1000-year history and visit important monuments on this guided walking tour.

Start off in Old Town Square, which was once an important medieval marketplace. The late Gothic towers of Tyn Church and Old Town Hall loom over the square, demonstrating the ancient economic power of the city. In the center of the square you'll find a monument to the religious reformer, Jan Hus, who is considered a symbol of Czech national identity and is famous for his resistance to foreign rule.

As you walk through the streets of Old Town, you'll get to see buildings and monuments which represent Prague's complicated and multicultural past. You'll see a beautiful Gothic oriel window from 1370, Charles University's oldest structure, and learn about the impact that Czech intellectuals have had on the nation's political power. The university was founded in 1348 by Charles IV, the French-educated Holy Roman Emperor who wished to make Prague the European capital of education.

In Wenceslaus Square you'll experience the more recent twentieth-century difficulties of the city. In this square, massive Nazi rallies were held and Warsaw Pact tanks suppressed the Prague Spring in 1968. Afterwards, you'll visit the most famous Art Nouveau masterpiece in the city, the Municipal House. This structure was built in 1911 to loudly announce that the Czechs were a modern people, ready to join Europe. In this hall, T.G. Masaryk formally announced the creation of the Czechoslovak Republic after WWI.

Finally, your tour will take you through the Jewish Quarter where you'll be able to see the oldest functioning temple in Europe, the Old New Synagogue, the ancient Jewish cemetery, and the rococo Jewish Town Hall. Along the way, you'll learn more about Prague's honorable Jewish community and their interactions with Germans and Czechs. Your walk will end at the Vltava River, in full view of Prague Castle, with a quick synopsis of the still-emerging post-Soviet Czech political system.