The Charles Bridge and Czech Identity PDF Print E-mail

Howard Louthan

Abstract

The century after the battle of White Mountain (1620) has been known as an age of darkness in Bohemia, a time of repressive Habsburg rule and forcible re-imposition of Catholicism on the Bohemian kingdom. This project, in contrast to the most common views of this period, identifies the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries as a critical time for the formation of a Czech cultural identity. This paper offers a case study of this process by discussing the cultural significance the Charles Bridge in Prague.
 

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National Council for Eurasian and East European Research (NCEEER) is a non-profit organization created in 1978 to develop and sustain long-term, high-quality programs for post-doctoral research on the social, political, economic, environmental, and historical development of Eurasia and Central and Eastern Europe.   More

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