★★★★★ 5.0
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Charles University
You know what's wild? You're standing in front of the oldest university north of the Alps and east of Paris... founded way back in 1348, making this place older than the printing press! Charles IV basically wanted to one-up the French, so he created this powerhouse that's been churning out revolutionaries and Nobel laureates for 676 years. See that Gothic archway ahead? That's where Jan Hus taught before they burned him at the stake in 1415 for challenging the Church... and where Einstein lectured about relativity in 1911, completely blowing everyone's minds. The locals will tell you the REAL treasure is through that courtyard – the original medieval lecture hall where students literally fought with swords over the best seats! Before Charles built this, it was actually a Jewish cemetery for three centuries. Today, with 50,000 students spread across SEVENTEEN faculties, it's basically a city within a city. Pro tip: sneak in around 7am when the courtyards are empty... that's when you can actually hear the building breathe.
Did You Know?
- Charles University, founded by King Charles IV on April 7, 1348, was the first major university in Central Europe and is one of the oldest universities in continuous operation in the Western world—older than any university north of the Alps and east of France, making Prague a medieval center of learning when much of Europe had no higher education institutions.
- One of the university’s most famous figures, Jan Hus, was not only a student and professor but became a dean and a national hero; his reformist ideas and eventual martyrdom (burned at the stake in 1415) foreshadowed the Protestant Reformation and turned the university into a cradle of religious and intellectual rebellion.
- The Carolinum, the historic heart of the university, is one of the oldest surviving university buildings in the world, featuring a stunning Gothic hall where graduation ceremonies are still held—children and families can imagine medieval scholars debating in the same grand room where today’s students receive their diplomas.