Conference Venue
The JVC 11 conference will be held in the conference facility of the TOP HOTEL Praha situated in a quiet area in the Prague 4 City District. The entire hotel complex spreads in the middle of vast greenery, and ranks among the largest hotel areas in Europe with its nine hectares. Thanks to its location and gorgeous garden, the TOP HOTEL Praha has won the “Green Hotel of the Year” award.
Location
Prague is one
of the most beautiful cities worldwide and one of European cultural
capitals since the Middle Ages. Prague is known as “ a city of hundred
towers”, as “the heart of the Europe” or just as “Golden
Prague”. The most valuable central part of the city was declared
the National Cultural Heritage in 1981 and it was included in UNESCO
World Cultural Heritage list in 1992. The historical centre of Prague
is situated on both banks of the river Vltava. Centuries of
construction gave rise to an exceptional integrated architectural
complex, unique in the world as regards its size and concentration of
cultural heritage.
Prague was always a crossroad where many merchants, and later also artists, scientists a politician met. The Prague Castle was founded around 870 - 880 by prince Borivoj of the Premyslid dynasty and Prague started to change from an early medieval settlement into a capital of the country.
According to legend, Prague was founded by the Princess Libuse and her husband, Premysl. Whether this legend is true or not, Prague's first nucleum was founded in the 9th century as a castle on a hill commanding the right bank of the river Vltava: this is known as Vysehrad ("High Castle") to differentiate from the castle which was later erected on the opposite bank, the future Prague Castle or Hradcany. The Prague Castle was founded around 870 by prince Borivoj of the Premyslid dynasty and Prague started to change from an early medieval settlement into a capital of our country.The city became the seat of the Princes and Kings of Bohemia, some of whom also later reigned as emperors of the Holy Roman Empire. It was an important seat for trading where merchants coming from all Europe settled, as recalled by the Jewish merchant and traveler Ibrahim ibn Ya'qub in 965. The city became a bishopric in 973.
King Vladislas II built the first bridge on the Vltava - the Judith Bridge - in 1170, though it crumbled down in 1342. The Charles Bridge was later built on its foundations.
The
city flourished during the 14th century reign of Charles IV, of the new
Luxembourg dynasty. He ordered the building of the New Town (Nove
Mesto) adjacent to the Old Town. New Town became the fourth independent
city of Prague. Each of four cities was protected by its own walls and
was ruled by its town hall. The Charles Bridge was erected to connect
the Old Town to Mala Strana. Monuments by Charles include also Saint
Vitus Cathedraland the Charles University. The latter is the oldest
university in Central and North Europe. Prague was then the
third-largest city in Europe. Under Charles Prague was the capital of
the Holy Roman Empire, and its rank was elevated to that of
archbishopric.
In the following two centuries Prague strengthened its role as a merchant city. Many noteworthy Gothic buildings were erected, including the Vladislav Hall in Hradčany.
In 1526 the Kingdom of Bohemia was handed over to the House of Habsburg. Rudolf II of Habsburg, elected King of Bohemia in 1576 (the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire and king of Hungary) chose Prague as his home. He lived in the Castle where he held his courts of artists and scientists but also astrologers, magicians and other strange people. This was a prosperous period for the city:
Prague
suffered in the Thirty Years War 1618 – 1648 (the Castle and the Lesser
Town – Mala Strana were plundered by the Swedish army and later in 1689
a great fire devastated Prague, but this spurred a renovation and a
rebuilding of the city. The economic rise continued through the
following century, and the city in 1771 had 80,000 inhabitants. The
city was enriched with a host of palaces, churches and gardens,
creating a Baroque style renowned throughout the world. In 1784, under
Joseph II, the four municipalities of Mala Strana, Nove Mesto, Stare
Mesto and Hradcany were merged into a single entity. The Jewish
district, called Josefov, was included only in 1850.
The development of Prague boomed once more in the second half of 19th century and in the first decades of the 20th century. The beautiful modern style, cubistic, constructivistic and functionalistic buildings are proves of it.
In 1918 Prague became the capital of Czechoslovakia and the seat of President Masaryk. Today Prague is the capital of Czech Republic and the seat of Czech presidents.
Prague has always been a fruitful place for science. During the modern age well-known scientists lived and worked in Prague and lectured at Prague Universities; among them astronomers Tycho de Brahe and Johannes Kepler in 17th century and two centuries later mathematician Christian Doppler and physicist Ernst Mach. The most famous physicist Albert Einstein was worked and lectured in Prague, from 1911 to 1912. Amongst inventions made in Prague in the twentieth century are polarography discovered by Jaroslav Heyrovský, for which he received the Nobel Prize in 1957, and soft contact lenses from transparent hydrogels, first synthesized in the early 1960s by Otto Wichterle. As mentioned before Prague has one of the oldest universities in Europe, Charles University, founded in 1348 by a charter of Charles IV, King of the Romans and of Bohemia. In this way one of the three great ideas of Christian medieval times – universitas – was fulfilled. Thanks to Charles’ foresight and his good relations with Pope Clement VI, the newly founded university had four faculties – theological, legal, medical and arts – a pattern which corresponded to medieval concepts of a complete university. Today, Charles University is composed of 17 relatively independent and self-governing faculties. The prime purpose of Charles University is the diffusion of learning and protection of acquired knowledge, the cultivation of free thought, independent academic research and the arts, and the encouragement of the free creative spirit of human society.
Prague offers not only stimulating atmosphere but provides wealth of attractions in arts, culture and social events. The JVC-11 conference may offer an opportunity for participants to discover the real beauty of Prague and to experience its life.
Changed May 24, 2006