35 interesting facts about Prague

The amazing and charming city of Prague, the world capital of Gothic architecture! This city is unique in that it has retained its historical appearance, having passed through the centuries, and, fortunately, the modern authorities carefully ensure that Prague does not turn into another faceless metropolis. If you remove cars and advertising from the streets of Prague, you might think that you were transported a couple of hundred years ago, once there. But the virtues of the Czech capital are not limited to architecture alone! Many people come here also for culinary experiences, as this city is famous for its huge number of cafes and restaurants with delicious national cuisine.

Facts about the city of Prague

1. Prague is called the city of towers, and whether this is so, travelers will be able to see for themselves. Among other sights of Prague, according to the estimates of extras, there are about a thousand towers on its territory.
2. Statistics buffs have calculated that about 40% of couples who come here on vacation get married in Prague.
3. The mysterious house of Faust is located in Prague, according to legend, it belonged to a doctor who made a contract with the devil, gaining knowledge in exchange on your own soul.
4. Prague Pneumatic Post — the world’s last surviving urban system for moving postal items under the action of rarefied or compressed air. It was put into operation in 1899 and consisted of 26 lines with a total length of 55 kilometers.
5. The age of the capital of the Czech Republic is about 1150 years. To be more precise, it was founded in 880 AD.
6. The Czech capital ranks fourth among European cities in terms of attendance by tourists, second only to Rome, Barcelona and Paris.
7. The very first biography of Mozart appeared in Prague. In 1798, seven years after the composer’s death, his friend František Xavier Nemeček, professor of philosophy and pedagogy at Charles University, published a book called The Life of the Imperial-Royal Kapellmeister Wolfgang Gottlieb Mozart (interesting facts about Mozart).
8. Prague Castle is the largest castle in the world.
9. St. Vitus Cathedral is one of the most unusual buildings in Prague, which took more than 500 years to build.
10. One of the most interesting places in Prague is the “Dancing House”, a complex of two towers, bizarrely curved against all the laws of physics according to the architect’s imagination. They symbolize a dancing couple.
11. In Prague, it is forbidden to install metal-plastic windows instead of classic wooden ones, so as not to spoil the look of the city.
12. The passage between some of the houses in Prague is approximately 70-80 cm wide. Traffic lights are installed on the roads, but not to regulate the movement of cars, but to coordinate the walks of pedestrians.
13. Near the Gergeta brick factory in Prague, the so-called pissing statues are installed, jets of water do not just pour out of them, but under the guidance of special computers they write quotes from the inhabitants of Prague on the walls.
14. The oldest glass factory is located in Prague. It was built back in 1414, and it still performs its direct functions to this day.
15. The bronze monument erected in Prague in honor of Jan Zizka is considered the tallest equestrian statue in the world. However, in Ulaanbaatar there is a statue of Genghis Khan that can argue with her (interesting facts about Ulaanbaatar).
16. Prague’s Allegro restaurant at the Four Seasons Hotel was the first in post-communist Eastern Europe to be awarded a Michelin star. This happened not so long ago – in 2008.
17. The Prague metro was built according to Soviet technologies with the direct involvement of specialists from the USSR.
18. Prague is the Petrin Tower, which exactly repeats the Parisian Eiffel Tower. The tower has a small observation deck overlooking the whole city.
19. There is a legend that when Hitler saw Prague, he was so impressed by its beauty that he forbade bombing this city during the Second World War.
20. Some of the series of the world-famous children’s cartoon «Tom and Jerry» were drawn in the cartoon studio «Brothers in tights» in Prague.
21. Charles University in Prague, founded in 1348, is the oldest university in Eastern Europe and one of the oldest continuously operating universities in the world.
22. There are no satellite dishes on the roofs of old houses in Prague – it is forbidden to hang them. This spoils the look of the old town.
23. Náměstí Míru is the deepest station in the European Union. It is located at a depth of 53 meters, and the escalator that connects it to the surface has a length of 87 meters.
24. The Prague TV Tower (Zizkov TV Tower) is the tallest building in Prague and the whole of the Czech Republic, and often receives the title of the city’s ugliest landmark. brings a lot of trouble. Quite large floods occur regularly in Prague. The last one was in 2013, and in 2002 — the largest in the last 500 years.
25. An interesting fact is that it was in Prague that the world’s first sobering-up station appeared. This happened in 1951.
26. In one of the buildings of the Prague complex «Clementinum» is the oldest weather station in the Czech Republic. It was discovered in 1752, and since 1755 it has been conducting regular and continuous observations, which is a world record.
27. The International Astronomical Union deprived Pluto of the status of a planet name during a conference held in Prague (interesting facts about the planets).
28. More than half of the houses in Prague (56%) are below 10 meters. Of these, 60% are two-story.
29. Women in Prague visit libraries 2.5 times more often than men.
30. The width of the smallest house in Prague is only 2.25 meters. It is located in the city center at Anežská 1043/4.
31. The Charles Bridge, the most popular and famous landmark in Prague, has an amazing story-legend of its creation: they say that in order to be able to build this beautiful bridge, the architect had to make a deal with the devil.
32. In Prague, there are about 12-13 times fewer dogs than people, that is, about a hundred thousand.
33. For a quarter of a century, there were simultaneously two funiculars.
34. The John Lennon Wall is mentioned in many guidebooks and is a famous landmark in Prague. It is curious that the legendary musician himself has never been to Prague.
35. The longest street in Prague (Strakonická) is 15.5 km long, and the shortest (Jiřího Červeného) — only 27 meters.