Prague, a city spread over wooded hills on either side of the Vltava river, is a place that has always inspired superlatives and effusive prose. Spared by bombing in the Second World War and, until recently, scarcely defaced by bill­boards, brash neon and other attributes of the Western city, the old centre of Prague is so uncannily well preserved that at times the visitor seems to be walking not in a real place but in a stage set or fairy-tale illustration. Few dispute that Prague is a city unrivalled in its beauty in central Europe, but there are also many who would agree with Milan Kundera's assessment-reached in the course of a stroll one day up a deserted Petřin Hill - that Prague was 'the most beautiful city in the world'.

Prague is a city which creates a lot of unexpected impressions! To feel the atmosphere of Prague is enough just to stop for a moment at the Charlie's Bridge ( Karlův Most) , the ancient bridge of the 13 th century with Baroque statues, the bridge situated in the very heart of the historical part of the city.

Here and there you will observe towers in the early Gothic and Roman style. Buildings in the Renaissance style turn Prague into a very romantic place; the cupolas of Baroque Churches made people name the city The Golden Prague ( Zlatá Praha ) .

For all the vicissitudes of history, Prague architecture and historic values remained in the original shape! At every step, everywhere there are places of interest: The Imperial Residence Prague Castle ( Pražsky Hrad ) with numerous palaces, galleries, cathedrals. ‘A spell hangs in the air of this citadel', wrote Patrick Leigh Fermor in a Time of Gifts , 'and I was under its thrall long before I could pronounce its name.' The enormous Prague Castle ( Pražsky Hrad ) rises up above the Little Quarter ( Mala Strana ) like a town in its own right, its elegant Classical casing holding together a veritable architectural treasury from which project the fantastical Gothic spires of St Vitus's Cathedral ( Chrám Svatého Víta ).

The old Town square ( Staroměsrské náměsti ) is certainly worth a visit, this is an ancient square with cobble-stone roads, Church of St. Nicholas, the Goltz-Kinsky palace, the Town Hall Astronomical Clock Orloj (1410) which became the symbol of the city; Parizska street which leads to Josefov , Prague Jewish Quarter (today an open air museum with synagogues, Old-New Synagogue is the oldest functioning synagogue in Europe, it dates back to the middle of the 13C). Walk this long, straight avenue, is lined with large, oppressively ornamented blocks featuring fantastical corners composed of irregularly shaped balconies and openings piled up one on the top of each other.

Practically nothing has changed in Prague from the Middle Ages. Of course, the city itself has grown up. And today the population is about 1 250 000 inhabitants. Buildings spread over the Prague suburbs. The transport system on the one hand has made life more convenient, but on the other hand it has changed the look of the city in comparison to the ancient town on the Vltava river. Nevertheless in Prague there is still that especial atmosphere which inspired poets, writers, painters, musicians, sculptors, scientists! Almost four centuries the Czech Kingdom was ruled by the Habsburgs and was the part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Not without reason the Habsburg Emperor Rudolf II moved the capital city of the Austro-Hungarian Empire from Vienna to mysterious and enigmatic Prague. Namely during the reign of Rudolf II a lot of famous persons worked in Prague. For instance, painters Bartolomaeus Spranger , Adriaen de Vries and Giuseppe Arcimboldo (worked as a court artist); astronomers Tycho Brahe and Johannes Kepler , the surgeon Jan Jesenius , the mathematician Jost Burgi (the inventor of logarithms), the alchemist Edward Kelley . At the King Court there was a round staff of alchemists who by order of the Emperor were trying to find the secret of turning the base metals into gold.

Speaking about Prague one should notice the writer Franz Kafka , whose study room was at the Golden Line ( Zlatá ulička ) , today this street is one of the important sightseeing in Prague Castle. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart conducted the opera Don Giovanni in the Prague Estate Theatre in 1787. Travel to Prague to listen to this opera at the same theatre where the premiere was! Albert Einstein lectured at the Charles's University, which was founded by the greatest Czech king Charles IV. Famous Russian poet Marina Tsvetajeva lived and wrote some poetry pieces in Prague. And many-many other persons who had contributed heavily into the progress of society.

The British writer Patrick Leigh Fermor, whose indigestibly rich prose has conjured up images of a wholly fantastical Prague, is by no means alone in considering the city not just as one of the most beautiful he has known but also as the strangest. The word 'magical', so misused by travel writers, is literally applicable to Prague, a city where the Habsburg emperor Rudolph II immersed himself in alchemy and the occult to the extent that be was eventually deposed as insane, where Doctor Faustus sold his soul to the devil, and where the Surrealist poet Andre Breton discovered his 'magic metropolis of old Europe'.

At the same time in Prague all the epochs and all the architectural styles exist: Roman rotundas, Gothic temples, Renaissance summer palaces, palaces and cathedrals in Baroque style, theatres and concert halls in styles of Modern, Cubism, post-Modern, surrealism – everything is safe and sound, because all these buildings were preserved intact.

To feel Prague you need to visit Prague! And believe, every time it would be a different city with new impressions! And every time new memories afterwards!