10 Things You Didn’t Know about Prague

There are many fascinating facts about Prague, so it’s hard to select just ten.  But here is an attempt at capturing some of the most interesting ones and hopefully a few that you didn’t know:

Albert Einstein - reprinted with permission from Pixabay & Library of Congress

1. The famous physicist and Nobel Laureate Albert Einstein lived in Prague for just over a year when he was a professor at Charles University, one of the oldest universities in Europe.  While he was in Prague, he also participated in the literary-philosophical salon held by a local intellectual, Berta Fanta, operated in her flat on Old Town Square.

2. Another famous participant (out of many) in the Fanta salon was the influential writer and Prague native son, Franz Kafka. Known for works like The Metamorphosis and The Trial, among others, Kafka was born not far from Old Town Square and is buried in Prague’s New Jewish Cemetery.

3. Former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright was born in Prague in 1937. Albright’s father was an official in the Czechoslovak government, so she spent four years of her childhood in London during World War II, beginning in 1941. Sadly, while in London, her grandparents were killed in the Holocaust, as her family was Jewish. If you take my Jewish Quarter walk or one of my Jewish Quarter tours, you’ll see where her grandparents’ names are painted on the walls of the Pinkas Synagogue’s Holocaust memorial. Albright is still a fluent Czech speaker.

4. The director of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest was Czech-born Miloš Forman. When Russian tanks rolled into Prague in 1968, Forman, who was making a film in Paris at the time, immigrated to the United States and later became an American citizen.

5. Speaking of movies, you’re probably aware that many movies were filmed in Prague, and one of the most famous was Amadeus, directed by – you guessed it – Milos Forman. Not only is Amadeus a great film that won eight Oscars, it was almost entirely filmed in Prague, when former Czechoslovakia was still under Communist rule.

Statue commemorating the premier of Don Giovanni at the Estates Theater.

6. Central to the plot of Amadeus is Mozart’s famous opera Don Giovanni. In the film, the premier of Don Giovanni takes place in Vienna, but in reality it took place in Prague on the 27th of October in 1787 with Mozart himself conducting the house orchestra. Though the film takes liberties with the location of the opera’s premier, what it did get right is the fact that the Viennese hated Don Giovanni when it premiered there. But the musically literate Czechs loved it on the first hearing. The world premier was held in the Estates Theater, which stood in for the Vienna opera in the movie.

7. Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe lived in Prague in the 16th century and is buried in the Týn Church on Old Town Square. Being Danish, Brahe was Protestant, and at the time of his death, the Týn Church was the main church of the Czech Protestant Reformation, led by Jan Hus.

8. Speaking of Jan Hus ...  The first Protestant Reformation on continental Europe took place in the Czech lands, led by Jan Hus, whose statue you see in the Center of Old Town Square. Hus predated Martin Luther by a century and preached his first sermon in Prague. The Hussite Church, known as the Moravian Church in the U.S., was born out of Hus’ movement. Sadly, he was burned at the stake in 1415, and the statue you see on the square was erected in 1915 to commemorate the 500th anniversary of his death.

Statue of Jan Hus in front of the Tyn Church

9. The physicist Ernst Mach was born  in the Czech Republic near the Moravian town of Brno. At the time, the Czech lands were part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and Mach was from an Austrian family. He is known for the Mach number (think Mach speed), among other things. During his career, Mach was also a professor at Charles University in Prague.

10. The first woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize was Bertha von Suttner who was born in the Kinsky Palace on Prague's Old Town Square in 1843. Von Suttner was not only the first female winner of the Peace Prize, but she was also the first Austrian winner of a Nobel Prize in any category (the Czech lands were part of the Austrian Empire at the time, so she was also the first winner of a Nobel Prize in the Czech lands).  She was not, however, the first female winner of a Nobel Prize in any category – that honor belongs to Marie Curie. However, Curie won her prize for physics, whereas Berta was the first winner of the Peace Prize, male or female.  You can find a plaque commemorating von Suttner in one of the entrances of the Kinský Palace, and you’ll also visit it on the Old Town walk in my Prague Walks book.

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If you'd like to know more about Prague, check out my Prague guidebook, Prague Travel Tips:  An American's Guide to Her Adopted City, or contact me through this website. And if you know some fascinating facts about Prague, leave a comment.

Great Prague Guidebooks

And be sure to check out my other great Prague guidebooks, as well. All are available in both paperback and Kindle format (good for all devices):