In Depth

Prague lies at the epicenter of Bohemia, which borders Germany to the north and west and Austria to the south. Slovakia to the east (which joined with the Czechs at the end of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1918 to form the Republic of Czechoslovakia) split with its Slavic neighbor in 1993 to form the independent Czech and Slovak republics in the "Velvet Divorce."

About 10.3 million people inhabit the Czech lands of Bohemia and Moravia, with about 1.2 million living in the dozen districts comprising the Prague metropolitan area. A small percentage of Praguers live in the city center, which is most frequented by visitors, although that number is dropping as many buildings are bought and remodeled to satisfy the high-paying demand for quality office space.

Most Praguers actually live in the Communist-built housing estates (paneláky) ringing the city. In the high summer season, visitors outnumber locals two to one in most main areas in the city, taking away much of Prague's indigenous character.

Language--Bohemia, through good times and bad, has been under a strong Germanic influence, and throughout a great deal of its history, German was the preferred language of the power elite. The Czech language, however, stems from the Slavic family, which includes Polish, Russian, Slovak, and others, though German has altered many Czech words. Czech uses a Latin alphabet with some letters topped by a small hat called a hácek to denote Slavic phonic combinations like "sh" for s, "ch" for c, and, everyone's favorite, "rzh" for r. Slovak differs slightly from Czech, but Czechs and Slovaks understand each other's language.

English, however, has become the postrevolutionary foreign tongue of choice for Prague movers and shakers, though German is more abundant in border areas. Outside Prague, it's rare to find someone who speaks English fluently, so be patient, expect to be misunderstood, and cultivate a sense of humor. Many newer words in the Czech vocabulary derive from capitalist English, like marketink and e-byznys, or from pop culture (rokenrol).

Did You Know?

Charles University, central Europe's first post-secondary school, opened in Prague in 1348.

Albert Einstein was a professor of physics in Prague from 1911 to 1912.

The word robot was coined by Czech writer Karel Capek and comes from a Slavic root meaning "to work."

Contact lenses were invented by a Czech scientist.

The word dollar came from the Tolar coins used during the Austrian empire; the coins were minted in the western Bohemian town of Jáchymov from silver mined nearby.

Beware of Open Windows: The Czech Tradition of Defenestration

About 600 years before Prague's popular uprising brought down communism, the Czech people began a long tradition of what might be considered a unique form of political protest.

In 1402, Jan Hus, a lecturer from Prague University, became the leading voice in a growing condemnation of the Catholic Church. From a pulpit in Old Town's Bethlehem Chapel (later destroyed but reconstructed in the 1950s), Hus gained popular support for his claims that the omnipotent power of the mostly German-dominated clergy had to be contained. In 1414, he was invited to the Catholic ecclesiastical Council of Konstanz to explain his beliefs. Though the emperor had promised Hus safe conduct, on arriving he was promptly arrested, and a year later he was burned at the stake. The Protestant Hussite supporters declared him a martyr and rallied their calls for change around his death.

On July 30, 1419, a group of radical Hussites stormed the New Town Hall on Charles Square and demanded the release of other arrested pro-reform Hussites. After town councilors rejected the demand, the Hussites tossed them out of third-story windows, killing several. This became known as the First Defenestration, from the Latin for "out of the window." The incident sparked a 15-year battle known as the Hussite Wars, which ended in the defeat of the radical Protestants in 1434.

By the 17th century, the Austrian Catholics who came to power in Prague tolerated little dissent, but as Protestant Czechs became ever more wealthy, they began criticizing the Habsburg monarchy. This bubbled over again on May 23, 1618, when a group of Protestant nobles entered Prague Castle, seized two pro-Habsburg Czechs and their secretary, and tossed them out of the eastern window of the rear room of the Chancellery -- the Second Defenestration. In the Garden on the Ramparts below the Ludwig Wing, two obelisks mark where they landed. This act led, in part, to the conflict known as the Thirty Years' War, which ended again in victory in 1648 for the Catholics. The Habsburgs remained in power for another 270 years, ruling over Prague as a provincial capital until the democratic Czechoslovak state was born.

Though Prague's 1989 overthrow of the totalitarian Communist regime gained the name the Velvet Revolution for its nonviolent nature, scattered calls for another defenestration (some serious, some joking) were heard. Contemporary Czech politicians surely know to keep away from open windows.