PRAGUE, prig (German Prag; Bohemian Praha), Austria-Hungary, the capital of Bohe mia and the third largest city of the empire, 217 miles by rail northwest of Vienna and 118 miles southeast of Dresden. Its site is a regular ba sin, traversed by the river Moldau, from the banks of which the city's buildings rise in ter races, till they are terminated and enclosed by bills of considerable height. Of nine bridges including two railway viaducts the most strik ing is the ICarlsbriicke, dating from 1357-1503, and reconstructed after damage by a flood in 1892; it is 543 yards long with tower gateways at each end and buttresses adorned with stat ues of Saint John Nepomuk, the patron saint of Bohemia, and other saints. The mediaeval fortifications and ramparts have been gradually demolished since 1866 and their sites occupied by pleasure grounds, boulevards, dwellings, etc. The city is divided into eight districts, the Alt stadt, Josephstadt, Neustadt, Vysehrad and Lie ben on the right, and the Kleinseite, Hradschin and Holeschowitz-Bubua on the left bank. Out side the line of the old walls lie the suburbs Karolinenthal, Smichow, Weinberge, Zizkov and others. The Altstadt and Josephstadt, the latter formerly the Jewish Ghetto, lie along the right bank toward the north. The streets of the Altstadt are narrow; it is the principal seat of trade and business and contains some of the best stores, besides numerous churches, ecclesi astical and educational establishments. The Neustadt encloses the Altstadt on the northeast, east and southeast. Though newer than the other, it is still very ancient, having been built by the Emperor Charles IV in 1348. On the oe posite side the Kieinseite forms the aristocratic quarter, the chosen abode of the Bohemian nobles and the site of several remarkable pal aces. The Hradschin, to the west of the Klein seite, occupies the side of a steep hill, is of less extent and contains fewer houses than the other quarters, but the chief public edifices. Among these are the royal palace, formerly palace of the Bohemian kings, situated in the Hradschin, parts of which date back to the 14th century; the Gothic cathedral, begun in 1344 and still uncompleted, also in the Hradschin; the Cle mentinum, the seat of the theological and philo sophical faculties of the university, erected by the Jesuits in 1653-1726; the Carolinum, the seat of the university since 1383 and still de voted to the faculties of law and medicine; the Tey-nlcirche, a Gothic church, begun in 1370, his torically interesting as the place where the Bo hemian estates made George Podiebrad their king, and containing the grave of the celebrated Danish astronomer, Tycho Brahe, who spent his last years at Prague; the palace of Wallenstein, originally a structure of great magnificence, but now much dilapidated; the Alte Rathaus (old town hall), an irregular Gothic edifice, partly of the 15th century and partly of the early 19th century, with a fine old clock dating back to 1490; the chief synagogue of theJews, rebuilt in 1338 after the burning of the quar ter; the military hospital, a large and magnifi cent edifice, originally erected by the Jesuits as a college; German and Bohemian theatres, the opera house, the national museum, museum of natural history, picture gallery, the German and Bohemian technical colleges, Landesbank (1896), municipal savings bank (1894), central market hall (1896), the new Ritterakademie (1896), the Municipal Museum, the Museum of Industrial Art (1899), etc. Besides the cathe
dral there are a number of other smaller churches of considerable interest and antiquity, such as the Karlov church (1351-77), church of Saint Mary the Virgin (1348-72), church of Our Lady of the Snows (about 1347), Saint Thomas' Church (14th century), Saint George's Church (1142-50), etc. The university, founded in 1348, had 10,000 students at the beginning of the 15th century; but subsequently as a result of the Hussite disturbances it had a long period of inactivity. It received a new constitution in 1881, having now two co-ordinate sides or sec tions, one German and one Czech, with re spectively 184 and 249 teachers, and 2,067 and 4,713 students (1914). It possesses a library of 370,000 volumes and 3,920 manuscripts, a fine observatory, museums of zoology and anatomy, a botanical garden, etc. The manufactures consist of gold and silver embroidery, silk, woolen, cotton and linen goods, buttons, hats, leather, paper, soap, refined sugar, vinegar, liqueurs, refined salt, gloves, sugar of lead, stearine and tallow candles, machines, musical and mathematical instruments, firearms, porce lain, jewelry, etc. The trade is of great im portance; Prague, owing to its central position, and to its facilities of transport by river, roads and railway, being the great entre* for all the traffic of the kingdom. There are seven rail load stations and two river steamship lines. It has also several important fairs, particularly one for wool, which lasts seven days, and dur ing which a great amount of business is done; that of Saint Wenceslas, the old patron saint of Bohemia; and that of Saint John Nepomuk, though these two are rather religious festivals than fairs, and are more crowded with devotees than dealers.