Prague Castle/Le chateau de Prague/Die Prager Burg [antikvár]

THE CASTLE OF PRAGUEAND ITS METAMORPHOSESPrague has always retained its peculiar and undefinableatmosphere of a historical city connected, however, by innu-merable and often invisible links with contemporary life and itsconditions. That is also the reason why everybody feels so muchat home in it: it does not indulge in excesses and rarities, butkeeps to natural values. It does not forcefully adhere to mediae-val clauses and canons, but lives like a modern city. It does notpretend to be a museum, because it is alive and real. Its histo-rical and architectural memorials are attractive, and not dry andmute like parts of a historical collection.This is best illustrated by the very Prague Castle. It captivatesits visitors at first glance by its surpizing extent and unusuallayout, as well as by the process of its development. There areonly a few castles in Europe and none of them of such impor-tance which have been capable of retaining such continuityand harmony of historical styles. Prague Castle has succeededin keeping this continuity with convincing and positive results.It is probably due to the fact that ever since the beginning of