Top 5 Fun Facts About Prague


 

A lot of things come to mind upon hearing the name of Prague. To list some off the top of my mind:

• Grand and imposing castle – check
• Tasty food– check
• Booming tourism – check
• Amazing beer – Czech

However, the city’s reputation as a party capital, along with the numerous testimonies to its booming wellness, food and concert industries, these days tend to overshadow some of the other cool aspects of the city. Today we are about to rectify that by discussing the top 5 fun facts about Prague, that you probably never heard of.

 

1. Prague’s Origins: Visions of an Oracle

Princess Libuše depicted in a mosaic by Max Švabinský, image sourced from Wikimedia Commons

Prague has existed for around a millennium. There is no question, those cobbled streets, red rooftops and golden spikes have witnessed a lot of history.
Historically, the original city was, of course, in the confines of the Prague castle. The story of its foundation dates back all the way to the 8th century. It all started with a duchess and her husband. The duchess was also an oracle, and a successful one at that, which is why her husband Přemysl, founder of the Přemyslid dynasty, tolerated her frequent disappearances.

As the legend goes, the oracle Libuše was one day walking through the magnificent forests on the hills around Vltava river. She wandered between the old oaks and young bushes, consumed by a trance, which took her on a rocky cliff high above the river and the valley. This is where she was blessed with a vision, and exclaims…

“I see a city of gold, whose glory will rise to the heavens itself!”

Following this, she ordered the construction of Prague castle and as her vision promised, it grew throughout the Romanesque era and flourished under the guidance of the artistic Renaissance, Baroque and Gothic periods. Those last three are the main influences behind the beautiful architecture you see all around the city center.

2. Prague’s Beauty, and the Beast

We can go on and on about how beautiful Prague is for the whole article. I have never hidden that it is my favorite city in the world,  for its all-round balance of culture, architecture, food, party and vibrant social life.
However, it is not all fun and games. You should blame people like me for why you don’t know this next fact – we are simply too busy gushing over the good parts and forget to mention the bad. But here goes – Prague is home to the second ugliest building in the world.

The Zizkov TV Tower gets a lot of bad rep for a buffet of different reasons. Some locals hate it for its political significance, some hate it for the truly atrocious and disruptive appearance. And some hate is simply because of the expensive entrance fees.

Image sourced from Bohemia Apartments

I, personally, never had an issue with it. As a young expat it actually helped me quite a lot as a mark in the sky to guide me through those confusing Zizkov streets. People complain, but I firmly believe that without the tower as a mark, many drunken expats would have spent the night outside. Of course, I doubt that’s what the communists had in mind when they built it, but I digress.

To sum it up – the Zizkov tower is a grey, boring monstrosity of a disturbing shape, ruining the medieval skyline of renaissance architecture. The shape makes it look like it’s ready to take off and as I made it clear, many people do wish it would. To make matters worse, a Czech architect added to the mix 10 giant baby statues crawling over the thing. They were mercifully taken down and cruelly added back again in 2019. Now that is the part that truly bothers me – the black demonic spawns can definitely enter your nightmares…

Image sourced from Bohemia Apartments

3. Prague Castle: a monument of Renaissance grandeur

Prague castle, image by Pexels sourced from Pixabay

I bet you think I can’t surprise you with anything new about the beautiful Prague castle. Well, I hope you are wrong, for this was a surprise to me. When I came to Prague all researched and excited, I still had somehow missed this fact. Namely, that Prague castle is the largest ancient castle in the world, according to the Guinness Book of Records.

The whole area takes up 70 000 square meters (or 750 000 square feet), with a width of 570 meters and length of 130 meters. Naturally, it is one of the main attractions – the main attraction even. Based on the Czech statistical bureau, more than 1.8 million tourists visit every year.

4. Prague’s Violent Side

Pencil depiction by artist Matthäus Merian (1593–1650), sourced from Wikimedia Commons

 

Speaking of Prague castle, I just itch with the desire to include one more fact about it.
Have you ever heard of the word “defenestration”? It means to throw someone out of a window, and it is an official form of execution that started exactly in Prague castle. Well, hardly invented – people have been throwing each other out of windows for a long time. But the famous incident in 1618 is what benchmarked the act.

The reason behind it was that a year before that, the Roman Catholic church had shut down some protestant chapels in Bohemia.
Protestants, rightfully enraged, requested a trial before the royal council at the castle. They won.

The window that began 30 years of war, image sourced from Wikimedia Commons

Czechs have never been ones to languish. The two catholic regents were found guilty of violating religious freedom – that much was enough. The protestants promptly enforced a punishment – they threw them out of the window. As luck would have it, and that’s my favorite part of the story, there was a huge pile of horse manure that softened their landing. Both lads remained uninjured.

5. Prague’s  Narrow Streets

My last fact is quick and easy – the narrowest street in Prague is around 50 cm wide!

I am not good with the imperial system, but I believe this is about 19.5 inches.
What truly gets to me is that fact that the street got its own traffic light, which prevents pedestrians from stumbling onto each other in the middle. While very thoughtful, I think that takes away a lot of the fun.

Prague’s tiny street, image sourced from AmusingPlanet.com

 

***

Well, that’s all for today. I hope I lit up your imagination with not only a journey through history, but also with Prague’s beautiful and interesting sights that you can visit today. Don’t hesitate to book a trip with us and enjoy in person one of the tiniest streets, the biggest castle in the world, the second ugliest building or the beautiful hills upon which oracle duchesses had visions of glory!

Planning a trip to Paris ? Get ready !


These are Amazon’s best-selling travel products that you may need for coming to Paris.

Bookstore

  1. The best travel book : Rick Steves – Paris 2023 – Learn more here
  2. Fodor’s Paris 2024 – Learn more here

Travel Gear

  1. Venture Pal Lightweight Backpack – Learn more here
  2. Samsonite Winfield 2 28″ Luggage – Learn more here
  3. Swig Savvy’s Stainless Steel Insulated Water Bottle – Learn more here

Check Amazon’s best-seller list for the most popular travel accessories. We sometimes read this list just to find out what new travel products people are buying.