A Traveller's Companion to Prague

By Jan Kaplan

Book Overview

"The City of a Hundred Spires" revealed through letters, diaries and memoirs from medieval to modern times Built on the banks of the meandering river Moldau, Prague has for centuries been an inspiration to artists and writers, inhabitants and visitors, many of whom have declared the "hundred-towered" city to be one of the most beautiful in the world, though one with a turbulent history. Jan Kaplan's selection from letters, diaries, memoirs and anecdotes brilliantly evokes both the city's exhilarating creative power, so impressively visible in its buildings and art treasures, and the many tragic events played out in its streets through the centuries. Here are eyewitness accounts of the sermons of Jan Hus, Czech forerunner of the German Reformation, the Defenestrations of Prague, beginning in 1419, the premiere night of Mozart's opera Don Giovanni in 1787, and the invasions and political upheavals of the 20th century. There are personal reflections from Petrarch, John Dee, Goethe, Horatio Nelson, Frederic Chopin, Hans Christian Andersen, George Eliot, Jan Neruda, Thomas Carlyle, Hector Berlioz, Auguste Rodin, Rainer Maria Rilke, Jaroslav Seifert, Karel Capek, Graham Greene, V?clav Havel, Franz Kafka, Ladislav Kl?ma, and more. Together they powerfully conjure up the magic of the enduring city.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1566565901
• ISBN13: 9781566565905
• Release Date: April 2005
• Publisher: Interlink Books
• Length: 400 Pages
• Weight: 0.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.1" x 7.8"

Customer Reviews

A truly informative reference for general travelers

A Traveller's Companion To Prague, deftly introduced and expertly edited by Jan Kaplan, is an outstanding and knowledgeable collection of the many intricacies of this principle city of the Czech Republic. In A Traveller's Companion To Prague, the reader will learn of the city's great history, including in-depth studies and introductions into the lives of many worldly idols who've come from, visited, or merely appreciated the city for its many enticing beauties. Highly recommended, A Traveller's Companion To Prague is a truly informative reference for general travelers, and also offers students of European history with and informative treatise on the timeless city of Prague.