(Bohem. Praha, Germ. Prag), a fortified town of the Austrian empire; capital of the kingdom of Bohemia, stands on both sides of the Moldau, 160 miles N.W. of Vienna, and 75 S.E. of Dresden. No town of Germany has a greater charm for the spectator than that which Prague derives, not less from the beauty of its situation than from the many historical associations with which it is connected. In a valley surrounded on all sides by hills, and divided into two parts by the Moldau, the city rises from the river's edge, tier above tier, palace above palace, spire above spire, to the encircling heights, which are crowned by fortifications 12 miles in circumference. It consists of five portions.—The Hradchin, on the hill called the Schlossberg, to the left of the river; the Kleinseite, to the south of the former, in a semicircular valley between it and the hill called Laurensberg; and on the right bank of the river the Judenstadt, or Jews' Town, which is inclosed by the Altstadt, or Old Town, and that again by the Neustadt, or New Town. To the extreme south of the New Town stands the citadel of Wyschrad, on black cliffs overhanging the Moldau, and connected with the fortifications which inclose the whole of the five quarters. Communication is kept up between the opposite sides of the river by two bridges; the older of these, called the Carlsbrücke, is 1850 feet long, and rests on 16 arches. It was begun in 1358, and finished in 1507. At each end stands a tower for the purpose of defence; and along the bridge there are on either side statues of saints, among which is that of St John Nepomuk, who is said to have been drowned from this very bridge. Farther up the river is an iron suspension-bridge resting on a small island in the centre. This bridge was completed in 1841. Each portion of Prague has its own distinct character. The Hradscin is remarkable for its numerous splendid edifices, many of them possessing great historical interest; the Kleinseite is the residence of the aristocracy of Bohemia, and contains many palatial mansions, with gardens stretching up to the heights above; the Jewish quarter, or as it has been called since 1850, Josephstadt, is densely peopled, and contains low, mean dwellings, and narrow, crooked, dirty streets. The Old Town is occupied by lofty old-fashioned houses, and it is here that most of the business is carried on; while the New Town, once separated from the former by a ditch that is now filled up, has many handsome convents, hospitals, &c., though the houses are generally low and small, inhabited chiefly by artisans. The Hradsciner Platz, the chief public square in that part of the city, is of an oblong shape, having on its north side the archiepiscopal palace and the residences of the prebendaries of the cathedral; on the west an imperial, on the south the Schwarzenberg palace; while on the east it is separated by a railing from the court of the castle, which includes within its limits the cathedral and buildings connected with it. The castle is an immense pile of buildings, containing, it is said, 440 apartments, but not in any way remarkable for architecture. It was from the diet chamber in this building that the nobles and deputies of Bohemia threw out of the window the imperial commissioners, Martinitz and Slavata, 23rd May 1618, and thus gave rise to the Thirty Years' War. Two stone pillars mark the place where they fell, on a mound that saved their lives. The cathedral of St Vitus, begun in 1343 by Matthias of Arras, and carried on by Peter Arler till 1385, bears a considerable resemblance to that of Cologne. It is unfinished; the tower, originally 506 feet high, was reduced to its present height of 314 feet by a great fire in 1541; and the whole building and many of its monuments suffered severely from the artillery of the Prussians in 1757. In the interior stands a splendid mausoleum over the vault of the Bohemian kings. It is of marble and alabaster, and has many effigies and sculptures. The shrine of St John Nepomuk in this church is remarkable for the immense amount of silver with which it is decorated. The large and splendid palace of Count Czernin is now used for barracks. Opposite to it stands the Loretto chapel, an exact copy of the famous Santa Casa in Italy. Of the numerous palaces in the Kleinseite, the most remarkable is that of Wallenstein, or, as he is called here, Waldstein, where that general resided in almost regal magnificence. It still belongs to the family, and remains almost unaltered, containing a portrait of the great duke, and the horse stuffed on which he rode at the battle of Lützen. On the highest point of the Laurenzberg, and of the whole of Prague, stands the Strahow monastery, containing a library of 50,000 volumes in a splendid hall, a portrait of Ziska the blind Hussite leader, and an autograph of Tycho Brahe. A magnificent view is obtained from the height of the city of Prague and the whole country eastwards, as far as the Riesengebirge. The churches in this quarter of the town are not very remarkable, the chief being that of St Nicholas, which is rich in marble and gilding. In the Jewish town of Prague the most remarkable building is the old synagogue, a small and gloomy edifice, said to have been built by the earliest fugitives from the fall of Jerusalem. The old Jewish burial-place is a remarkable inclosure in the centre of the Judenstadt, crowded with thousands of gravestones carved with Hebrew characters, and covered with dark grey moss; it has not been used for about a century. The principal square in the Altstadt is called the Grosse Ring, which has on one side the town-hall, in the Gothic style, partially re-built in 1840, though the tower and some portions of the ancient edifice still remains. Opposite to this building stands the Teynkirche, a Gothic edifice with two tapering towers. It was at one time the church of the Hussites, and the service is still performed here in the Bohemian tongue. In this church is the grave of Tycho Brahe. The university of Prague is the oldest in Germany, having been founded in 1348 by Charles IV., after the model of that of Paris. The fame of the university, and the privileges accorded to its members, attracted students from all parts of Germany; so that in 1409 there are said to have been 40,000 students here. In that year John Huss, who was afterwards made rector, proposed measures for abridging the privileges of the foreign students, which caused the secession of a very large number. These, scattering themselves throughout Germany, founded the universities of Leipzig, Cracow, &c. That of Prague then became the centre of the Reformed doctrines taught by Huss and his school, but it never again rose to its former celebrity. It has 44 professors, and was attended in 1851 by 1390 students. In the university building, or Carolinum, only the law and some of the medical classes are held; the philosophical and theological faculties occupying the Clementinum, an immense range of buildings, originally a Jesuits' college. Here also are the library (containing nearly 130,000 volumes and numerous MSS.), the museum of natural history, the observatory, several churches and chapels, a gymnasium, and an episcopal seminary. In connection with the university there is also a large and valuable botanic garden in one of the suburbs. Among the other buildings in this part of the town is a large theatre. Here also is a monument to Francis I. of Austria, on the quay between the two bridges, somewhat resembling that of Sir Walter Scott in Edinburgh. In the Neustadt, one of the finest streets is the Ross Markt, or horse-market, nearly half a mile in length, and in breadth 150 feet at the foot and 192 at the head. At the foot is a statue of St Wenceslaus, and at the head one of St Nepomuk. At one corner of the large square, called the Vieh Markt (cattle-market), stands the town-hall, almost entirely re-built in 1806. In the same square stands the large and splendid building (originally a Jesuits' college), now used as a military hospital. The Neustadt contains also a general hospital, a public garden, and the Bohemian museum, which includes a library, collections of antiquities and of natural history. Prague contains in all 50 Roman Catholic and 2 Protestant churches, 9 synagogues, 11 monasteries, 4 nunneries, and many schools and academies, among which are 1 Protestant and 1 Jewish school. Besides the hospitals already mentioned, there are many admirably-managed benevolent institutions, including asylums for lunatics, the blind, and the deaf-and-dumb. The manufactures of the town are numerous and varied, comprising cotton, linen, silk and woollen fabrics; hosieries, hats, leather, paper, jewellery, musical and mathematical instruments, earthenware, sugar, beer, vinegar, &c. It is the centre of the whole trade of Bohemia, and derives great advantages in this respect from the means of communication afforded by the Moldau, and by the railways which connect it with Dresden on the one hand, and with Olmütz and Vienna on the other. Although the precise date of its origin is not known, there is no doubt that Prague is one of the most ancient cities of Bohemia. The Kleinseite is said to have been founded early in the eighth century, and the Altstadt, the next to it in antiquity, towards its close. From the earliest period Prague suffered very much from the ravages of war; but its greatest calamities were connected with the religious contests of the Hussite period. In the reign of Charles IV. the city had risen to such a degree of prosperity that it was not only the most populous in Germany, but a principal seat of the arts and sciences. The first rising of the Hussites took place under Zisca in 1419; it was caused by the martyrdom of John Huss and Jerome of Prague at Constance, and by the treacherous conduct of the Emperor Sigismund on that occasion. Zisca and his followers entrenched themselves on a hill which still bears his name, about half a mile E. of the walls of the city, and there they not only resisted the attacks of the emperor with 150,000 men, but totally defeated him. The Hussites, who obtained completely the upper hand in Bohemia, and made hostile incursions into the neighbouring countries, would not acknowledge Sigismund as king of Bohemia until a diet, held at Prague in 1435, when they obtained from the Roman Catholic Church the freedom to teach publicly their doctrines, and the use of the sacramental cup for the laity. During the disturbances that preceded this settlement most of the churches and convents in Prague had been dismantled or destroyed. The religious privileges thus obtained by the Bohemians remained undisturbed until the beginning of the seventeenth century, when the attempts of the emperors to invade them caused the outbreak at Prague which began the Thirty Years' War in 1618. Refusing to acknowledge Ferdinand II., they elected Frederick of the palatinate to the crown; but he was totally defeated in 1620, at the Weißenberg, near Prague. By this battle, and the persecutions which followed it, the Protestantism of Bohemia was entirely subverted. In 1631 the city was taken by the Elector of Saxony, but re-taken the next year by the imperialists under Wallenstein. In 1648 the Swedes gained possession of the Kleinsciete, which they evacuated on the peace of Westphalia in the same year. At the beginning of the war of the succession in 1741, Prague was taken by the French and Bavarians; and in the following year it was blockaded by the Austrians under Charles of Lorraine. In 1744 it was taken by Frederick the Great, but restored by the peace of Dresden in the following year. In 1757 Frederick defeated the Austrians in the battle of Prague, and besieged the city, but was compelled to raise the siege by his defeat at Kolin. Since that period Prague has once again suffered from the devastations of war. In 1848 the Czechs, or Bohemian party, rose against the Austrians, and a desperate contest ensued between them. The military, under Prince Windischgrätz, having gained possession of the Hradchin, bombarded from thence the rest of the city on the 17th of June, and on the 19th the insurrection was entirely put down. Pop. (1851), exclusive of military, 118,405.