The Renaissance got here later to Prague than to Venice, Flanders, or Rome. However it was no much less transformative when it did. Within the sixteenth century Prague grew to become a spot the place empires converged and cultures had been introduced into contact. From 1526 the Habsburgs made Prague a spot of retreat when the Ottoman Empire’s armies encroached on the Hungarian border. Whereas they had been in residence, Prague grew to become the seat of a global dynasty and the Holy Roman Empire, turning it into Europe’s cultural and political centre.
