Faces of Prague, Seminar on City Structures

Subject is not scheduled Not scheduled

Code Completion Credits Range Language Instruction Semester
311FOP Z 1 24S English winter

Subject guarantor

Name of lecturer(s)

Learning outcomes of the course unit

Notion of Prague, its history and presence. Cultural insight. Learning more about potential shooting locations.

Mode of study

3 Prague tours

  1. tour on October 7
  2. tour on October 12
  3. tour on November 2

from 9:30 a.m. till 3:30 p.m.

meeting point TBA

Prerequisites and co-requisites

Basic knowledge of European history, awareness of WWI and WWII, familiarity with the history of the region since WWII. We will start the course with a short recap anyway.

Course contents

Prague consists of many different worlds socially and historically, so we – pressed for time – will observe three major ones.

Our 3-day tour (7, 12 October and 2 November 2018) begins in the city centre. Prague was founded many centuries ago and the initial settlement occupied both river banks not connected with any bridge for a long time. From the lowest dusty roads and shallowest river to the important hills of royal or clerical power, this merged into one of the largest cities of late middle ages, the seat of Roman Emperor Charles IV.

The city in the limits defined by Charles IV was able to grow, develop, but also stagnate until the end of the 19th century. The fall of the ramparts started the explosive growth of the city so that what used to be far behind Prague is now within wider city centre.

The ring of neighbourhoods behind the former city walls will be our second tour destination. The territory of our interest gets wider so we have to choose: a rich and residential city, an industrial city and a makeshift city. We will move between the late 19th century and the beginning of the WWII.

Farthest from the city centre prefab housing estate quarters were built on green fields. They are based on avant-garde interwar ideas and are the true product of modernism. In the final phase of construction, they were also built huge, in poor quality and impersonalized. People in the socialist system were losing grit and energy, the central planning was failing and resources were simply not available. Quarters built in the second half of the 20th century are still home to more than half of Prague’s citizens.

Three tours cannot cover everything so we have to pick the most important or maybe the most significant. The tour plan is subject to change and should serve as a principal guideline. After every tour participants will receive an e-mail with map links of the places visited places and key facts.

Recommended or required reading

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Assessment methods and criteria

1 credit for three days 100% joyful and active participation

Note

Please get ready for a healthy dose of walking in any weather.

Have some money on you. We will need some refreshments.

Please have a valid public transport card.

Further information

No schedule has been prepared for this course

The subject is a part of the following study plans