Famous people connected with Prague
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Prague, the capital of today's Czech Republic, has been for over a thousand years the center and biggest city of Czech lands. A city of such size and historic importance boasts of many famous people who were born or died here, who studied, lived or saw their success here.
[edit] Partial list of famous people connected with Prague
- Charles IV (1316 - 1378) - Holy Roman Emperor, under his rule Charles University in Prague or Charles Bridge were set up, made the city his main seat
- Rudolf II (1552 - 1612) - Holy Roman Emperor, made the city capital of Austrian empire, attracted both scientists and charlatans here
- Jan Hus (1369 - 1415) - religious thinker and reformer, most important preaching done in Prague
- Jan Žižka (c. 1370-1424) - general and Hussite leader, participated in start of the rebellion in Prague, later defended it against crusaders
- Tycho Brahe (1546 - 1601) - astronomer, spent end of life near Prague
- Jacobus Gallus (1550-1591) - Catholic composer of sacred polyphony
- Johannes Kepler (1571 - 1630) - astronomer, worked together with Brahe
- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 - 1791) - composer, some of his best opera successes during his lifetime happened in Prague
- Bedřich Smetana (1824 - 1884) - composer, lived and died in the city
- Leoš Janáček (1824 - 1928) - composer, studied in Prague
- Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk (1850 - 1937) - philosopher, politician, lived here for substantial part of life
- Karel Baxa (1863-1938) - politician, mayor of the city for almost two decades
- Emmy Destinn (1878 - 1930) - opera soprano, born in Prague
- Jan Patočka (1907 - 1977) - philosopher, born, lived and died here
- Miloš Forman (1932) - Academy Awards winning film director, actor and script writer, studied and lived in Prague
- Václav Havel (1936) - writer, dramatist, politician, born and lived here
- Jiří Menzel (1938) - Academy Award winning film director, born here
- Milan Kundera (1929) - writer, studied
- Jaroslav Hašek (1883 - 1923) - writer, humorist and satirist, lived here for most of his life, described the city in many stories
- Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955) - physicist, served as professor at the German part of Charles University, 1911 - 1912
- Bohumil Hrabal (1914 - 1997) - writer, lived and died
- Josef Václav Myslbek - sculptor, born, best known sculptor here
- Alfons Mucha (1860 - 1939) - painter and decorative artist, lived last decades of life here
- Martina Navrátilová (1956) - tennis player, early life in Prague
- Emil Zátopek (1922 - 2000) - athlete, lived and died
- Pavel Nedvěd (1972) - football player, played for a Prague team 1991-96
- Tomáš Rosický (1980) - Arsenal F.C. footballer and captain of Czech Republic national football team
- Jan Saudek (1935) - art photographer, born and lives
- František Křižík (1847 - 1941) - inventor, electrical engineer and entrepreneur, set up his company in Prague
- Franz Kafka (1883 - 1924) - writer, born and lived
- Jaroslav Seifert (1901 - 1986) - poet, winner of Nobel Prize in Literature, lived
- Karel Čapek (1890 - 1938) - writer, lived
- Antonín Dvořák (1841 - 1904) - composer, lived most of his life here
- Reinhard Heydrich (1904 - 1942) - Nazi general and protector, assassinated in Prague while serving as governor of the occupied country
- Rainer Maria Rilke (1875 - 1926) - poet, born and studied
- Judah Loew ben Bezalel (1525 - 1609) - important Talmudic scholar, Jewish mystic and philosopher
- Jože Plečnik (1872 - 1957) - Slovenian architect, built several churches and parts of Prague Castle
- Vladimír Holan (1905 - 1980) - poet, born, lived and died
- Lída Baarová (1914-2000) - Czech actress, lived and died
- Killing Joke (still active) - Rock & Roll band
