History of Prague

-Narrated by Zilo Trajano Putanesca, member of the Giovanni clan, early 2001.

Prague has always been one of the most spectacularly beautiful in the world. A metropolis that fascinates everyone, making them appreciate its splendid architecture and the charm of its ancient districts.

The Czechs call it Praha (P-r-a-h-a). They consider it the Golden Prague. They see it as a gem in the heart of Europe. Seat of the Republic and center of the political, administrative and government powers, this beautiful city spills out on both sides of the river Vltava.

The history of Prague dates back to the 9th century, when the Premysls founded Prague Castle and Vyshërad. Among these fortress holdings stood the first church dedicated to the Virgin Mary, established in 894 AD. Later, in 973 AD, the Bishopric of Prague was formally established. By 1105 AD, records document the first Prague marketplace.

By the 13th century the town fortifications were complete, encircling 1,700 meters (140 hectares). In 1344, Prague was elevated to an Archdiocese. In 1348, Charles IV established the first university in Central Europe — a transformative moment for the city's prominence.

But before I continue and unload a history lesson you probably do not feel like hearing, or already know, it is better to get to the heart of the matter.

To understand what Prague has been, you must look at this last century very closely. Before going on, I must dwell for a moment on certain general events in the city over these last hundred years. They are the true flavour and lifeblood of Prague since its first stone was laid, and they will teach you that the gift of eternal life makes us see, over and over again, that history repeats itself.

Setting aside all history prior to this century, Prague is one more example of what some call neo-feudalism, with strong influence from European Princes such as the august Gustav of Berlin, and from the few Tzimisce more loyal to their clan than to their Sect. This modern story begins in 1918, when the Republic of Czechoslovakia was created from the remains of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, drawing its borders hand in hand with the Slovaks, who had endured centuries of territorial losses and gains around Carpathian Ruthenia. Years later they would lose Bohemia, Moravia and the Sudetenland to the Germans, alongside the violent rupture of the Slovak state's formation, all within barely two decades of Czechoslovakia's founding. From then on, its course, backed at times by the USSR or London and crippled at others by those same powers - such as the loss of Ruthenia or rejection of the Marshall Plan, again thanks to the USSR - kept the country trapped within its own limits. Thus it sank into its communist, progressive, socialist or democrat state (all the same thing, only the labels changed) after several coups d'etat, ending with the 1968 transition in which Czechoslovakia passed into the Czech Republic and Slovakia, undermining all Camarilla efforts to maintain control and influence, and losing their grip over their fiefdoms.

From there Vassily rose to power, exploiting "socialism with a human face" (the installed Soviet communist regime), and consolidated the city with an almost paranoid precision, raising it from scratch. Socialism and the Cold War made the Soviets stop meddling so heavily, and Vassily used that opening to expand his contacts with Hungary, since his main German Camarilla benefactor, Gustav, looked at Prague to invade it, not to help it. The next thirty years were about maintaining power, and the fall of the Berlin Wall also made the Germans stop harassing him while the Austrian and Czech Iron Curtain collapsed: with that came a new factor. Austria, Vienna, Tremere. Ah, and they changed the country's name again, something like the Czech and Slovak Federal Republic. Bloody nuances.

With the arrival of the Tremere, and without the fictional walls that had enclosed it, they managed to drive the Czech people into revolt against the communist regime through what historians call the Velvet Revolution: the only case in which the iron grip of a dictatorship (in this case, a communist regime) was broken without bloodshed or even one damned broken pane, leading in 1993 to the two final states: the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

This was Vassily's age of splendour, firmly entrenched in the Old City; suburbanisation made the New City prosper. In the long run, that became his downfall.
Prague's historical core stretches across both banks of the gentle bend carved by the Vltava River (better known as the Moldau in old Europe), and consists of six small towns, now districts, unified at the end of the 18th century. On the right bank stand Josefov (the preserved part of the ancient Jewish city), Stare Mesto (Old Town), Nove Mesto (New Town) and, south of it, Vyshërad. On the left bank lie Hadrëany (Castle Town) and Mala Strana (Little Town).

From here on, you already know the rest of the story.

Prague Timeline