Prague Castle [antikvár]

FOREWORDPrague Castle has gazed down on the River Vltava for a full eleven centuries. It has its own order and rhythm of life to which normál humán criteria do not apply.During its long existence an endless number of people has passed this way who ruled, held office, worked hard or, on the contrary, enjoyed life in a carefree manner or merely looked around curiously here. People come and go and only very few leave their permanent mark here. Even those who devoted their whole life to the Castle were actually here for a short time only.The Castle has naturally undergone changes even though as regards size it has remained the same since the time of its foundation. Periods of flourish and splendour alternated with feverish building activity, war events or fires and bad times of oblivion and disrepair. The Castle gradually ceased to be a strategic military point and its im-portance as the centre and symbol of the Czech State grew. And Prague Castle has been this centre, the seat of the head of State or at least the central State administration throughout its existence. So many significant events in Czech history are directly connected with Prague Castle! So many times did it witness the installation of princes or the election of kings, so many times did it experience solemn coronations and so many important decisions were taken by the ruler or the Provinciai Diet here! And it must not be forgottén that the Castle has alsó been the scene of historic events of European importance - indeed, on two occasions in its history it was the seat of the Román emperor!Here each one of the visitors who pass through the Castle in millions every year can find what he is looking for here: an authentic histor-ical environment, valuable architectural monuments, rich art collec-tions, the majestic silence of cathedral interiors, beautiful and roman-tic corners, interesting exhibitions and concerts, the effective sight of the changing of the Castle guard, relaxation in gardens or an unfor-gettable view of the city. Apart from all these things, however, he can alsó come across visible signs of efforts to preserve this unique area.