The History of Prague Trivia Quiz

Answer: Vltava

Princess Libuse (aka Libussa) was a Czech noblewoman who married a commoner named Premysl the Ploughman. She ruled from Bohemia when she had her grand vision of Prague, which was the name of a new castle she envisioned. Premysl began a dynasty that ruled Bohemia for over 400 years.

While historians are skeptical of this founding legend, archeological evidence suggests it is possible as Libuse's original castle has been discovered and dating back to the 8th century.

Answer: Wenceslas

Prince Wenceslas was murdered by three conspirators who were friends of his brother Boleslav. Wenceslas was murdered on his way to church. There had long been tension between Wenceslas and Boleslav because Wenceslaus had been friendly toward the Saxons. After Wenceslas was murdered, Boleslav became the duke but eventually surrendered to the Saxon Otto I the Great.

Answer: Agnes of Bohemia

Agnes was the daughter of King Ottokar and Constance of Hungary. As a female offspring of a king, she was used often as a political pawn and as expected to marry for political reasons. She was engaged at a very young age to Henry VII of Germany but the long engagement was tense and ultimately canceled.

She was then offered/mandated to marry Henry III of England, but this arrangement was rejected by Emperor Frederick II, Henry VII's father, who wanted to marry Agnes. In order to avoid any more political marriages, Agnes devoted herself to a life of charity and prayer: with the backing of the Pope she founded a hospital and also a house of the Order of Poor Ladies ('Poor Clare Order').

Answer: Charles University

Charles University and Charles Bridge are named after Emperor Charles IV who greatly expanded Prague's influence economically and culturally. He was the first of Bohemia's rulers from the Luxembourg Dynasty. Some of his other accomplishments were renovating Prague Castle and building the New Town district of Prague. On the wider European stage he is famous for establishing the procedure for the election of the Holy Roman Emperor.

Answer: Supporters of Jan Zelivsky threw members of the city council

The First Defenestration of Prague came about when Jan Zelivsky and supports led a protest arguing for reform of the Catholic Church, which they saw as corrupt. During the march, someone threw a rock at Zelivsky and that led to his supporters to storm the town hall and throw about a dozen city council members and others out of the window. Most of them died as a result.

Answer: Either by angels or by falling in a pile of dung

Jaroslav Borzita and Vilem Slavata were both Catholic regents in Prague and were accused of violating the rights of Protestants within Prague. They were sentenced to death by Jindrich Matyas Thurn, a Protestant leader. The two men and their secretary were thrown from a third floor window nearly 70 feet high, but they all survived. Word spread amongst the Catholics that angels had intervened with the execution. Protestants countered and said the men only survived because they landed in a pile of manure. How they survived exactly is unknown but historians give some credit to the manure theory.

The Second Defenestration of Prague was one of the main events that caused the Thirty Years' War that saw the attempt by the Habsburg monarchy to reassert its power in the Holy Roman Empire fail and also its attempt to restore Roman Catholicism.

Answer: Maria Theresa

The Jews had flourished in Prague during the 17th century and into the 18th. However, the Maria Theresa was staunchly Catholic and instituted several policies against the Jews and Protestants. Some of these policies included exorbitant taxes and forced conversions. She expelled the Jews from Prague in 1745 against the advice of her advisors. Three years later, the Jewish people were given permission to return.

In the later years of her reign, she instituted policies that were more favorable to the Jews, although it is said she still hated them. Much of this may have had to do with her son, the future Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II, who abhorred his mother's policies, especially when she tried to expel Protestants in 1777. Maria Theresa was also the mother of Marie Antoinette.

Answer: Austria and Hungary

Austria-Hungary (and prior to 1867 the Austrian Empire) was a powerful force in Central Europe since the Holy Roman Empire folded. However, Austria-Hungary was defeated in World War I and plans for a Austria-Hungary-Czech monarchy never came about as an independent Czechoslovakia emerged following the war with its capital at Prague.

Answer: Pinkas Synagogue

Czechoslovakia was invaded by Nazi Germany in 1939 and the Jewish population fell immediately under attack. Prior to the war, there were over 50,000 Jews in Prague but after the war's end, there were hardly any left as they either fled and didn't return or were killed.

The Pinkas Synagogue is a small building whose walls are entirely covered the names of the Czech Jews lost during the Holocaust.

Answer: The Gentle Revolution

It is called the Velvet Revolution because it was nonviolent, much like how velvet is smooth. While Czechoslovakia had been dominated by Soviet influence (and other Iron Curtain nations) Prague was severely restricted and hindered. There had been an uprising in 1968 but it was quashed. After the Berlin Wall fell earlier in 1989, Czechoslovakia saw hope for a peaceful ended to the Communist rule that had dominated since the end of World War II. Crowds of protestors led by Vaclav Havel stormed the streets of Prague in an anti-Communist movement on November 17. The actual revolution had begun the day before with protests in Bratislava.

After the revolution ended, Prague moved toward a more capitalistic economy and away from the communistic approach that had stifled the city for decades.