Howard Louthan
Abstract
The century after the battle of White Mountain (1620) has been known as an age of darkness in Bohemia, a time of repressive Habsburg rule and forcible re-imposition of Catholicism on the Bohemian kingdom. This project, in contrast to the most common views of this period, identifies the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries as a critical time for the formation of a Czech cultural identity. This paper offers a case study of this process by discussing the cultural significance the Charles Bridge in Prague.