Baroque Prague

Lushly illustrated with more than two hundred color plates, including both historical images and contemporary photographs of architectural exteriors, Baroque Prague is an excursion through Prague from the defeat of Czech Protestants at the Battle of White Mountain in 1620 to the philosophical era of Enlightenment in the eighteenth century. Art historian Vít Vlnas explores both the material and spiritual transformations the city went through during this boisterous period, treating the Baroque epoch as a cultural phenomenon vital to the current genius loci of the great Central European capital. He guides readers through both the city itself and equally important Baroque monuments outside of the historical city center. A highly readable introductory study, as well as a work for experienced scholars of the history of Bohemia, Baroque Prague is an exciting homage to Europe’s great “city of a hundred spires,” and shows how a place’s storied past informs its present soul.