Poets and patriots have long called Prague “the Golden City.” Prague’s blend of architectural styles and harmonious landscape has inspired romantic descriptions and beckoned tourists and expats from around the world. But how did the city acquire its unique beauty? How does this beauty serve to conceal a complex history of conflict and violence among Prague’s diverse population, which included Germans and Czechs, Christians and Jews, Protestants and Catholics, natives and immigrants?

Cynthia Paces, a professor of European history, discusses how Prague became the Golden City, focusing on two key periods: the reigns of Charles IV in the 14th century and Rudolph II in the 16th century. These Holy Roman Emperors were the only ones to name Prague their capital city. They brought in scholars, architects, and artists to make the city one of the wealthiest and most powerful in Europe. The emperors’ encouragement of new ideas and intellectual debate, however, also created hostilities that culminated in international wars shortly after their reigns.

Meet the emperors, artists, and architects who built the Golden City. Discover the Gothic and Renaissance buildings that still stand today and learn the real stories of the city’s alchemists and astronomers, poets and painters. And find out why both eras of peace and prosperity ended in bloody wars.