traveldk.com

Author Božena Němcová based the narrator on her own grandmother, from whom she heard many of these stories.

When a young Slovak actress took off her clothes in Machatý’s Ecstasy (1932) it became the first film to feature nudity; the actress became Hedy Lamarr.

Almost completely unknown outside Austria, Meyrink is nevertheless responsible for one of the city’s most marketable notions: the Golem. He penned the story of the clay monster, that was supposedly locked up in the Old-New Synagogue, in 1914 and attributed its creation to the real Rabbi Loew (see The Golem).

Constructed along with the town hall with funds from Mordecai Maisel, the High Synagogue was built in elegant Renaissance fashion. Subsequent reconstructions updated the exterior, but the interior retains its original stucco vaults. Inside there are also impressive Torah scrolls and mantles.

Developers are helping this former warehouse district make a comeback. It’s home to the National Gallery’s Veletržní Palace (see National Gallery), and motor car fans will love the National Technical Museum, with its exhibits of Czech interwar vehicles such as Škodas.

George of Poděbrady lived here before he was elected king in 1458. The Romanesque “cellars” were ground-floor rooms until a flood-prevention programme raised the city’s streets 3 m (10 ft).

After the Church Council at Constance burned Catholic reformer Jan Hus at the stake in 1415 (see Jan Hus Memorial), his followers literally beat their ploughshares into swords and rebelled against both church and crown. The resulting animosity between Protestant Czechs and German Catholics would rage for centuries.

While World War I raged, National Revival leaders such as Tomáš Masaryk turned to the United States for support for an independent Czechoslovakia. As the war drew to a close in 1918, the republic of Czechoslovakia was born.

Reitman, now US-based, is best known for directing the hit Ghostbusters .