Self-study activity:
Watch the video and answer the questions below. The activity is suitable for Básico 2 and Intermedio 1 students.
1 How long did St.Vitus’s Cathedral take to complete?
2 When did King Václav reign?
3 How does King Václav appear in times of national crisis?
4 Who ordered the construction of the Cathedral and the city of Prague?
5 When did the Czech Republic win their independence?
6 When did the Prague Spring take place?
7 When did the Velvet Revolution take place?
You can check your answers by reading the transcript below.
Prague is the capital of the Czech Republic. The people of the city see its castle as not a monument of the past but as still very much in use. It lives in their hearts. There is a Gothic cathedral in the castle grounds. St. Vitus’s Cathedral took 600 years to complete. It is built on the burial site of King Václav who reigned in the 10th century. The bishop here carries King Václav’s skull. Václav is regarded as a patron saint who resisted outside invasion and is said to appear on a white horse in times of national crisis. A statue of Charles IV who reigned in the 14th century stands directly above the cathedral altar. He ordered the construction of the Cathedral and the city of Prague. But the city became a victim of religious and international disputes and it was only after the First World War that people were able to win back their independence.
The castle was used for the Office of the first President, Thomas Masaryk. He ensured that the castle was open to its citizens. The castle’s Great Hall was built by the Hapsburgs of Austria. History swept by. The Hall saw Hitler’s invasion and served as the venue for the Communist National Party Assembly during the post-war years. Soviet troops crushed Czechoslovakia’s liberation movement during the ‘Prague Spring’ of 1968. Then, in 1989, half a million citizens took to the streets calling for freedom. The Velvet Revolution liberated Czechoslovakia without bloodshed. Václav Havel was the leader of the movement for democracy. The crowds sent their President to the castle, and the Castle was returned to the Czech people. The words mean: “Truth prevails” The flag expresses the hopes and beliefs of the people of Prague.
