Prague, the Mother of Cities, and Kutná Hora's Silver Heart: A Traveler's Historical Guide
The City of a Hundred Spires and its Silver Soul Prague does not simply exist; it presides. Known to history by its ancient epithets, Praga mater urbium (Mother of Cities) and Praga Caput Regni (Head of the Kingdom), it is a city that wears its past not as a relic, but as a living mantle. 1 To walk its cobblestone lanes is to trace a narrative etched in stone, a chronicle of emperors, reformers, artists, and mystics. Built between the 11th and 18th centuries, its historic center is a UNESCO World Heritage site, a breathtaking ensemble of palaces, churches, and bridges that seem to defy the passage of time. 2 Yet, the golden glow of Prague's spires and the grandeur of its imperial monuments tell only half the story. The city's magnificent Golden Age, a period of unparalleled architectural and cultural flourishing, was not born of a vacuum. It was forged in fire and financed by a seemingly inexhaustible river of silver that flowed from a town an hour's journey away: Kutná...