Located at the very center of Europe, Prague has been on the frontline of
international political, intellectual, religious, and cultural conflicts for
more than six centuries. Invaded and occupied by the Habsburgs, the
Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Nazis, and then Communist Russia, the city s
identity is shaped by a long experience of foreign domination and a strong sense
of martyrdom.
A treasure house of Gothic, baroque, and modernist architecture, Prague is also
a city of icons and symbols: statues, saints and signs reveal a turbulent
history of religious and cultural conflict. As Kafka s nightmare city and home
of the Good Soldier _vejk, the Czech capital also produced