THE HOLY FATHER, Pope Benedict XVI, recently travelled to the Czech Republic in a journey he described as “both a pilgrimage and a mission.” The ancient land of Bohemia was once at the very center of Christian civilization. It was from here that the brother saints Cyril and Methodius launched their mission to convert the Slavic world. From Prague, the realms of the Přemyslid and then Luxembourg dynasties were ruled, followed by the most illustrious house of Hapsburg. Oh to have been in Prague under the reign of the Emperor Rudolf II! With his mysterious court of astrologers and magicians and his cabinet of curiosities. With Arcimboldo, Spranger, Heintz, and Hans von Aachen putting paint to canvas, Giambologna and de Vries sculpting, while Kepler and Tycho Brahe searched the night skies. Centuries later, long after the nucleus of Hapsburg power had moved to Vienna, it was to Prague that the Emperor Ferdinand came following his abdication and remained until his death in 1875.

But of course there is the other Prague — the city of heresy, rebellion, and warfare. Curiously, this capital has probably experienced more defenestrations than any other city: the killing of seven councilors, including the burgomaster, by Hussites in 1419; the killing of the portreeve and several aldermen by rebels in 1483; the non-fatal defenestration of two governors and their scribe, again by Protestants, in 1618, sparking the Thirty Years’ War; and long-time Czechoslovak politician Jan Masaryk was found dead after a fall from a window in 1948, presumably at the instigation of the Communists who took over.

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image Our Lady of Victory, Prague