Editing Prague (section)

===Habsburg era===
[[File:Prague banner c1477.png|upright=0.7|thumb|Depiction of the "Prague Banner" (municipal flag dated to the 16th century)<ref>
This swallow-tailed banner is approximately {{cvt|4|by|6|ft|m|abbr=off}}, with a red field sprinkled with small white fleurs-de-lis, and a silver old Town Coat-of-Arms in the centre. The words ''PÁN BŮH POMOC NAŠE'' (The Lord God is our Help) appeared above the coat-of-arms, with a Hussite "host with chalice" centered on the top. Near the swallow-tails is a crescent-shaped golden sun with rays protruding. One of these banners was captured by Swedish troops in [[Battle of Prague (1648)]], when they captured the western bank of the Vltava River and were repulsed from the eastern bank, they placed it in the Royal Military Museum in [[Stockholm]]; although this flag still exists, it is in very poor condition. They also took the [[Codex Gigas]] and the [[Codex Argenteus]]. The earliest evidence indicates that a gonfalon with a municipal charge painted on it was used for Old Town as early as 1419. Since this city militia flag was in use before 1477 and during the Hussite Wars, it is the oldest still preserved municipal flag of Bohemia.{{citation needed|date=October 2016}}</ref>]]
[[File:Praha CoA CZ small.svg|upright=0.7|thumb|The [[coat of arms of Prague]] (1649)<ref name=Vojtisek>{{ill|Václav Vojtíšek|cs}}, ''[http://www.historie.hranet.cz/heraldika/pdf/vojtisek1928a.pdf Znak Hlavního Města Prahy / Les Armoires de la Ville de Prague] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160417192932/http://www.historie.hranet.cz/heraldika/pdf/vojtisek1928a.pdf |date=17 April 2016}}'' (1928), cited after [http://www.nakedtourguideprague.com/the-coat-of-arms-of-prague/ nakedtourguideprague.com] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161009114718/http://www.nakedtourguideprague.com/the-coat-of-arms-of-prague/ |date=9 October 2016}} (2015).</ref>]]

In 1526, the Bohemian estates elected [[Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor|Ferdinand I]] of the [[House of Habsburg]]. The fervent Catholicism of its members brought them into conflict in Bohemia, and then in Prague, where Protestant ideas were gaining popularity.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.prague.st/city-info/static/eng/czech-history/religious-conflicts.php |title=Religious conflicts |publisher=Prague.st |access-date=18 November 2013 |archive-date=4 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304235726/http://www.prague.st/city-info/static/eng/czech-history/religious-conflicts.php |url-status=live}}</ref> These problems were not preeminent under Holy Roman Emperor [[Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor|Rudolf II]], elected King of Bohemia in 1576, who chose Prague as his home. He lived in Prague Castle, where his court welcomed not only astrologers and magicians but also scientists, musicians, and artists. Rudolf was an art lover as well, and Prague became the capital of European culture. This was a prosperous period for the city: famous people living there in that age include the astronomers [[Tycho Brahe]] and [[Johannes Kepler]], the painter [[Giuseppe Arcimboldo|Arcimboldo]], the alchemists [[Edward Kelley]] and [[John Dee]], the poet [[Elizabeth Jane Weston]], and others.

In 1618, the famous [[Defenestrations of Prague|second defenestration of Prague]] provoked the [[Thirty Years' War]], a particularly harsh period for Prague and Bohemia. [[Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor|Ferdinand II]] of Habsburg was deposed, and his place as King of Bohemia taken by [[Frederick V, Elector Palatine]]; however his army was crushed in the [[Battle of White Mountain]] (1620) not far from the city. Following this in 1621 was an execution of 27 Czech Protestant leaders (involved in the uprising) in Old Town Square and the exiling of many others. Prague was forcibly converted back to [[Roman Catholicism]] followed by the rest of Czech lands. The city suffered subsequently during the war under an attack by [[Electorate of Saxony]] (1631) and during the [[Battle of Prague (1648)]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.family-lines.cz/html/Articles/30-war.htm |title=The Kingdom of Bohemia during the Thirty Years' War |publisher=Family-lines.cz |access-date=14 April 2011 |archive-date=18 July 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110718172046/http://www.family-lines.cz/html/Articles/30-war.htm |url-status=live}}</ref> Prague began a steady decline which reduced the population from the 60,000 it had had in the years before the war to 20,000. In the second half of the 17th century, Prague's population began to grow again. [[History of the Jews in the Czech Republic|Jews]] had been in Prague since the end of the 10th century and, by 1708, they accounted for about a quarter of Prague's population.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |url=https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/vjw/Prague.html |title=Prague |encyclopedia=Jewish Virtual Library |access-date=18 November 2013 |archive-date=13 January 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170113164529/http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/vjw/Prague.html |url-status=live}}</ref>

In 1689, a great fire devastated Prague, but this spurred a renovation and a rebuilding of the city. In 1713–14, a major outbreak of [[plague (disease)|plague]] hit Prague one last time, killing 12,000 to 13,000 people.<ref>M. Signoli, D. Chevé, A. Pascal (2007).''"[https://books.google.com/books?id=3u3rNCWtv0MC&pg=PA51 Plague epidemics in Czech countries] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160503110934/https://books.google.com/books?id=3u3rNCWtv0MC&pg=PA51&dq&hl=en |date=3 May 2016}}"''. p.51.</ref>
[[File:Frantisek Palacky monument.jpg|thumb|upright|left|[[František Palacký Monument, Prague|Monument]] to [[František Palacký]], a significant member of the Czech National Revival, created by [[Stanislav Sucharda]].<ref>Source: [https://umenipromesto.eu/katalog/detail/1364?v=list umenipromesto.eu]</ref>]]

In 1744, [[Frederick the Great]] of Prussia invaded Bohemia. He took Prague after a severe and prolonged siege in the course of which a large part of the town was destroyed.<ref name="EB1911">{{cite EB1911 |wstitle=Prague|volume=22|pages=248–250}}</ref> [[Maria Theresa|Empress Maria Theresa]] expelled the Jews from Prague in 1745; though she rescinded the expulsion in 1748, the proportion of Jewish residents in the city never recovered.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Jewish History of Prague |url=https://aish.com/the-jewish-history-of-prague/ |access-date=July 8, 2024 |website=Aish.com|date=6 October 2022 }}</ref> In 1757 the [[Prussia]]n bombardment<ref name=EB1911/> destroyed more than one-quarter of the city and heavily damaged St. Vitus Cathedral. However, a month later, Frederick the Great was defeated and forced to retreat from Bohemia.

The economy of Prague continued to improve during the 18th century. The population increased to 80,000 inhabitants by 1771. Many rich merchants and nobles enhanced the city with a host of palaces, churches and gardens full of art and music, creating a [[Baroque]] city renowned throughout the world to this day.

In 1784, under [[Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor|Joseph II]], the four municipalities of Malá Strana, Nové Město, Staré Město, and Hradčany were merged into a single entity. The Jewish district, called [[Josefov]], was included only in 1850. The [[Industrial Revolution]] produced great changes and developments in Prague, as new factories could take advantage of the coal mines and ironworks of the nearby regions. The first suburb, [[Karlín]], was created in 1817, and twenty years later the population exceeded 100,000.

[[Revolutions of 1848|The revolutions in Europe in 1848]] also touched Prague, but they were fiercely suppressed. In the following years, the [[Czech National Revival]] began its rise, until it gained the majority in the town council in 1861. Prague had a large number of German speakers in 1848, but by 1880 the number of German speakers had decreased to 14% (42,000), and by 1910 to 6.7% (37,000), due to a massive increase in the city's overall population caused by the influx of [[Czechs]] from the rest of Bohemia and [[Moravia]] and the increasing prestige and importance of the Czech language as part of the Czech National Revival. In 1891, the city council ordered that all German inscriptions be removed in Prague, while Czechs at the same time demanded equal status for the Czech and German languages in Bohemia and Moravia.<ref>{{cite book|title=Das böhmische Staatsrecht in den deutsch-tschechischen Auseinandersetzungen des 19. und 20. Jahrhundert|editor=Kurt Oberdorffer|publisher=Elwert|year= 1960|pages=38|contribution=Stellungnahme des Deutschtums er Sudetnländer zum "Historischen Staatsrecht"|author=Helmut Slapnicka}}</ref>

{{Panorama|image=Panorama von Prag – Vincenc Morstadt – 1835.jpg||height=220|caption=Panorama of Prague from the Schönborn Garden, circa 1835. The drawing by Czech vedutist [[Vincenc Morstadt]] was engraved by Friedrich Geissler.}}