Prague Timeline of Events

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Prague

Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...

Timeline of Events

1348

4.7.1348

Charles University is founded in Prague.

5.7.1348

Charles University in Prague (Universitas Carolina/Univerzita Karlova) is established as the first university in Central Europe.

1357

7.9.1357

Emperor Charles IV assists in laying the foundation stone of Charles Bridge in Prague.

1419

7.30.1419

First Defenestration of Prague: a crowd of radical Hussites kill seven members of the Prague city council.

1620

11.8.1620

The Battle of White Mountain takes place near Prague, ending in a decisive Catholic victory in only two hours.

1621

6.21.1621

Execution of 27 Czech noblemen on the Old Town Square in Prague as a consequence of the Battle of White Mountain.

1631

10.10.1631

A Saxon army takes over Prague.

1787

10.29.1787

Mozart's opera ''Don Giovanni'' receives its first performance in Prague.

1848

6.2.1848

The Slavic congress in Prague begins.

1905

10.1.1905

František Pavlík is killed in a demonstration in Prague, inspiring Leoš Janáček to the piano composition 1. X. 1905.

1942

5.27.1942

World War II: In Operation Anthropoid, Reinhard Heydrich is assassinated in Prague.

1969

1.16.1969

Czech student Jan Palach commits suicide by self-immolation in Prague, in protest against the Soviets' crushing of the Prague Spring the year before.

1.19.1969

Student Jan Palach dies after setting himself on fire 3 days earlier in Prague's Wenceslas Square to protest the invasion of Czechoslovakia by the Soviet Union in 1968. His funeral turned into another major protest.

1989

11.17.1989

Cold War: Velvet Revolution begins: In Czechoslovakia, a student demonstration in Prague is quelled by riot police. This sparks an uprising aimed at overthrowing the communist government (it succeeds on December 29).

11.20.1989

Velvet Revolution: The number of protesters assembled in Prague, Czechoslovakia swells from 200,000 the day before to an estimated half-million.

1991

7.1.1991

The Warsaw Pact is officially dissolved at a meeting in Prague.

2000

9.26.2000

Anti-globalization protests in Prague (some 20,000 protesters) turn violent during the IMF and World Bank summits.