Prague And Minsk

Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. It is the fourteenth-largest city in the European Union.[5] It is also the historical capital of Bohemia proper. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its larger urban zone is estimated to have a population of nearly 2 million. (SONY PCG-5G2L battery) The city has a temperate oceanic climate, with warm summers and chilly winters. Prague was first mentioned as Casurgis, a Germanic city, on the map of Ptolemaios.

Prague has been a political, cultural, and economic centre of central Europe with waxing and waning fortunes during its 1,100-year existence. Founded during the Romanesque and flourishing by the Gothic and Renaissance eras, Prague was not only the capital of the Czech state(SONY PCG-5G3L battery), but also the seat of two Holy Roman Emperors and thus then also the capital of the Holy Roman Empire.[6][7] It was an important city to the Habsburg Monarchy and its Austro-Hungarian Empire and after World War I became the capital of Czechoslovakia. The city played major roles in the Protestant Reformation, the Thirty Years' War, and in 20th-century history, during both World Wars and the post-war Communist era(SONY PCG-F305 battery).

Prague is home to a number of famous cultural attractions, many of which survived the violence and destruction of 20th century Europe. Main attractions include the Prague Castle, the Charles Bridge, Old Town Square, the Jewish Quarter, the Lennon Wall, and Petřín hill. Since 1992, the extensive historic centre of Prague has been included in the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites(SONY PCG-5J1L battery).

The city boasts more than ten major museums, along with numerous theatres, galleries, cinemas, and other historical exhibits. A modern public transportation system connects the city. Also, it is home to a wide range of public and private schools, including Charles University. Prague is classified as a Beta+ global city according to GaWC studies, comparable to Berlin, Rome, or Houston(SONY PCG-5J2L battery). Its rich history makes it a popular tourist destination, and the city receives more than 4.1 million international visitors annually, as of 2009. In 2011, Prague was the sixth-most-visited city in Europe.

During the thousand years of its existence, the city grew from a settlement stretching from Prague Castle in the north to the fort of Vyšehrad in the south, becoming the multicultural capital of a modern European state, the Czech Republic, a member state of the European Union.

A view of one of the bridge towers of the Charles Bridge(SONY PCG-5K2L battery)

The area on which Prague was founded was settled as early as the Paleolithic age. Around 200 BC the Celts established an oppidum (settlement) in the south, now called Závist. By the end of the 1st century BC, the population was composed mostly of the Marcomanni (and possibly the Suebi), a Germanic people. In the 6th century AD, during the great migration period following the collapse of the Roman empire, the Marcomanni people migrated westwards or were assimilated into the invading West Slavic people(SONY PCG-5L1L battery).

According to legends, Prague was founded by the Czech duchess and prophetess Libuše and her husband, Přemysl, founder of the dynasty of the same name. By the year 800 there was a simple fort fortified with wooden buildings, occupying about two-thirds of the area that is now Prague Castle.[11] The first masonry under Prague Castle dates from the year 885. (SONY PCG-6S2L battery)

The other Prague fort, the Přemyslid fort Vyšehrad[13] was founded in the 10th century, some 70 years later than Prague Castle. Prague Castle is dominated by the cathedral, which was founded in 1344, but completed in the 20th century.

The region became the seat of the dukes, and later kings of Bohemia. Under Roman Emperor Otto II the area became a bishopric in 973. Until Prague was elevated to archbishopric in 1344, it was under the jurisdiction of the Archbishopric of Mainz(SONY PCG-6S3L battery).

Prague was an important seat for trading where merchants from all of Europe settled, including many Jews, as recalled in 965 by the Hispano-Jewish merchant and traveller Ibrahim ibn Ya'qub. The Old New Synagogue of 1270 still stands. Prague contained an important slave market.[14]

At the site of the ford in the Vltava river, King Vladislaus II had the first bridge built in 1170, the Judith Bridge (Juditin most), named in honor of his wife Judith of Thuringia. This bridge was destroyed by a flood in 1342. Some of the original foundation stones of that bridge remain(SONY PCG-6V1L battery).

In 1257, under King Ottokar II, Malá Strana ("Lesser Quarter") was founded in Prague on the site of an older village in what would become the Hradčany (Prague Castle) area. This was the district of the German people, who had the right to administer the law autonomously, pursuant to Magdeburg rights. The new district was on the bank opposite of the Staré Město ("Old Town"), which had borough status and was bordered by a line of walls and fortifications(SONY PCG-6W1L battery).

The precious Czech Crown Jewels are the fourth oldest in Europe

Prague flourished during the 14th-century reign (1346–1378) of Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor and the king of Bohemia of the new Luxembourg dynasty. As King of Bohemia and Holy Roman Emperor, he transformed Prague into an imperial capital and it was at that time the third-largest city in Europe (after Rome and Constantinople). He ordered the building of the New Town (Nové Město) adjacent to the Old Town and laid out the design himself. The Charles Bridge(SONY PCG-7111L battery), replacing the Judith Bridge destroyed in the flood just prior to his reign, was erected to connect the right bank districts to the Malá Strana and castle area. On 9 July 1357 at 5:31 am, Charles IV personally laid the first foundation stone for the Charles Bridge. The exact time of laying the first foundation stone is known because the palindromic number 135797531 was carved into the Old Town bridge tower having been chosen by the royal astrologists and numerologists as the best time for starting the bridge construction. (SONY PCG-71511M battery) In 1347, he founded Charles University, which remains the oldest university in Central Europe.

He began construction of the Gothic Saint Vitus Cathedral, within the largest of the Prague Castle courtyards, on the site of the Romanesque rotunda there. Prague was elevated to an archbishopric in 1344, the year the cathedral was begun.

The city had a mint and was a centre of trade for German and Italian bankers and merchants. The social order, however, became more turbulent due to the rising power of the craftsmen's guilds (themselves often torn by internal fights) (SONY PCG-6W3L battery), and the increasing number of poor people.

The Hunger Wall, a substantial fortification wall south of Malá Strana and the Castle area, was built during a famine in the 1360s. The work is reputed to have been ordered by Charles IV as a means of providing employment and food to the workers and their families.

Charles IV died in 1378. During the reign of his son, King Wenceslaus IV (1378–1419), a period of intense turmoil ensued. During Easter 1389, members of the Prague clergy announced that Jews had desecrated the host (Eucharistic wafer) and the clergy encouraged mobs to pillage(SONY PCG-7113L battery), ransack and burn the Jewish quarter. Nearly the entire Jewish population of Prague (3,000 people) perished.

Jan Hus, a theologian and rector at the Charles University, preached in Prague. In 1402, he began giving sermons in the Bethlehem Chapel. Inspired by John Wycliffe, these sermons focused on what were seen as radical reforms of a corrupt Church. Having become too dangerous for the political and religious establishment, Hus was summoned to the Council of Constance, put on trial for heresy, and burned at the stake in Constanz in 1415(SONY PCG-7133L battery).

Four years later Prague experienced its first defenestration, when the people rebelled under the command of the Prague priest Jan Želivský. Hus' death, coupled with Czech proto-nationalism and proto-Protestantism, had spurred the Hussite Wars. Peasant rebels, led by the general Jan Žižka, along with Hussite troops from Prague, defeated King Sigismund, in the Battle of Vítkov Hill.

During the Hussite Wars when the City of Prague was attacked by "Crusader" and mercenary forces, the city militia fought bravely under the Prague Banner(SONY PCG-7Z1L battery). It was later captured by Swedish troops on their raid in 1649 and eventually placed in the Royal Military Museum in Stockholm; although this flag still exists, it is in very poor condition.

This swallow-tailed banner is approximately 4 by 6 feet, with a red field sprinkled with small white fleurs-de-lis, and a silver old Town Coat-of-Arms in the center. The words "PÁN BUH POMOC NASSE" (The Lord is our Relief) appeared above the coat-of-arms(SONY PCG-7Z2L battery)       , with a Hussite chalice centered on the top. Near the swallow-tails is a crescent shaped golden sun with rays protruding.

When the banner was first made and used is open for debate, but earliest evidence indicates that a gonfaion with a municipal charge painted on it was used for Old Town as early as 1419. Since this city militia flag was in use before 1477 and during the Hussite Wars, it is the oldest still preserved municipal flag of Bohemia(SONY PCG-8Y1L battery).

In the following two centuries, Prague strengthened its role as a merchant city. Many noteworthy Gothic buildings[18] were erected and Vladislav Hall of the Prague Castle was added.

In 1526, the Bohemian estates elected Ferdinand I of the House of Habsburg. The fervent Catholicism of its members was to bring them into conflict in Bohemia, and then in Prague, where Protestant ideas were gaining popularity. (SONY PCG-8Y2L battery) These problems were not pre-eminent under Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II, elected King of Bohemia in 1576, who chose Prague as his home. He lived in the Prague Castle, where his court welcomed not only astrologers and magicians but also scientists, musicians, and artists. Rudolf was an art lover too, and Prague became the capital of European culture. This was a prosperous period for the city(SONY PCG-8Z2L battery): famous people living there in that age include the astronomers Tycho Brahe and Johann Kepler, the painter Arcimboldo, the alchemists Edward Kelley and John Dee, the poetess Elizabeth Jane Weston, and others.

In 1618, the famous second defenestration of Prague provoked the Thirty Years' War, a particularly harsh period for Prague and the Bohemia. Ferdinand II of Habsburg was deposed, and his place as King of Bohemia taken by Frederick V, Elector Palatine; however the Czech Army under him was crushed in the Battle of White Mountain (1620) not far from the city(SONY PCG-8Z1L battery). Following this in 1621 was an execution of 27 Czech leaders (involved in the uprising) in Old Town Square and the exiling of many others. The city suffered subsequently during the war under Saxon (1631) and Battle of Prague (1648).[20] Prague began a steady decline which reduced the population from the 60,000 it had had in the years before the war to 20,000. In the second half of the 17th century Prague's population began to grow again(SONY PCG-7112L battery). Jews have been in Prague since the end of the 10th century and, by 1708, they accounted for about a quarter of Prague's population.[21]

Stiassny's Jubilee Synagogue built in 1906 is the largest in Prague

In 1689, a great fire devastated Prague, but this spurred a renovation and a rebuilding of the city. In 1713–14, a major outbreak of plague hit Prague one last time, killing 12,000 to 13,000 people. (SONY PCG-6W2L battery)

The economic rise continued through the 18th century, and the city in 1771 had 80,000 inhabitants. Many of these were rich merchants and nobles who enriched the city with a host of palaces, churches and gardens full of art and music, creating a Baroque style renowned throughout the world. After the Battle of Prague in 1757 the city was badly damaged during a Prussian bombardment.[23] In 1784, under Joseph II, the four municipalities of Malá Strana, Nové Město, Staré Město, and Hradčany were merged into a single entity(SONY PCG-5K1L battery). The Jewish district, called Josefov, was included only in 1850. The Industrial Revolution had a strong effect in Prague, as factories could take advantage of the coal mines and ironworks of the nearby region. A first suburb, Karlín, was created in 1817, and twenty years later the population exceeded 100,000.

The revolutions that shocked all Europe around 1848 touched Prague too, but they were fiercely suppressed(SONY VGP-BPS8 battery). In the following years the Czech national movement began its rise, until it gained the majority in the town council in 1861. Prague had a German-speaking majority in 1848, but by 1880 the number of German speakers had decreased to 14% (42,000), and by 1910 to 6.7% (37,000), due to a massive increase of the city's overall population caused by the influx of Czechs from the rest of Bohemia and Moravia and also due to the rise of the social status of the Czech language, ethnic mixing and assimilation. (SONY VGP-BPS8A battery)

World War I ended with the defeat of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the creation of Czechoslovakia. Prague was chosen as its capital and Prague Castle as the seat of president (Tomáš Masaryk). At this time Prague was a true European capital with highly developed industry. By 1930, the population had risen to 850,000.

Main article: German occupation of Czechoslovakia(SONY VGP-BPL8 battery)

Hitler ordered the German Army to enter Prague on 15 March 1939 and from Prague Castle proclaimed Bohemia and Moravia a German protectorate. For most of its history Prague had been a multi-ethnic city with important Czech, German and (mostly Czech- and/or German-speaking) Jewish populations. From 1939, when the country was occupied by Nazi Germany, and during World War II, most Jews were deported and killed by the Germans(SONY VGP-BPS9 battery).

In 1942, Prague was witness to the assassination of one of the most powerful men in Nazi Germany – Reinhard Heydrich during Operation Anthropoid, accomplished by Czech national heroes Jozef Gabčík and Jan Kubiš. Hitler ordered bloody reprisals. At the end of the war Prague suffered several bombing raids by the USAAF. Over 1,000 people were injured, 701 people were killed, and hundreds of buildings, factories and historical landmarks were destroyed(SONY VGP-BPS9/S battery) (however, the damage was small compared to the total destruction of many other cities in that time).[25] On 5 May 1945, four days before Germany capitulated, an uprising against Germany occurred. Four days later the 3rd Shock Army entered the city. The majority of the German population either fled or was expelled by the Beneš decrees in the aftermath of the war(SONY VGP-BPS9A battery).

Prague was a city in the territory of military and political control of the Soviet Union (see Iron Curtain). The 4th Czechoslovakian Writers' Congress held in the city in 1967 took a strong position against the regime.[citation needed] This spurred the new secretary of the Communist Party, Alexander Dubček, to proclaim a new deal in his city's and country's life, starting the short-lived season of the "socialism with a human face"(SONY VGP-BPS9A/B battery). It was the "Prague Spring", which aimed at the renovation of institutions in a democratic way. The other Warsaw Pact member countries reacted with the invasion of Czechoslovakia and the capital on 21 August 1968 by tanks, suppressing any attempt at reform.

Era after the Velvet Revolution

In 1989, after the riot police beat back a peaceful student demonstration, the Velvet Revolution crowded the streets of Prague, and the Czechoslovak capital benefited greatly from the new mood. In 1993, after the split of Czechoslovakia(SONY VGP-BPS9/B battery), Prague became the capital city of the new Czech Republic. In the late 1990s Prague again became an important cultural centre of Europe and was notably influenced by globalisation. In 2000 anti-globalisation protests in Prague (some 15,000 protesters) turned violent during the IMF and World Bank summits. In 2002 Prague suffered from widespread floods that damaged buildings and also its underground transport system. Prague launched a bid for the 2016 Summer Olympics, (SONY VGP-BPS9A/S battery) but failed to make the candidate city shortlist. Due to low political support, Prague's officials chose in June 2009 to cancel the city's planned bid for the 2020 Summer Olympics as well.[27]

The name Prague is derived from an old Slavic root, praga, which means "ford", referring to the city's origin at a crossing point of the Vltava river.

The native name of the city, Praha, however, is also related to the modern Czech word práh (threshold) and a legendary etymology connects the name of the city with princess Libuše, prophetess and a wife of mythical founder of the Přemyslid dynasty(SONY VGP-BPL9 battery). She is said to have ordered the city "to be built where a man hews a threshold of his house".[28] The Czech práh might thus be understood to refer to rapids or a cataract in the river, the edge of which could have acted as a means of fording the river – thus providing a "threshold" to the castle. However, no geological ridge in the river has ever been located directly beneath the castle. The same etymology is associated with the Praga district of Warsaw. (SONY VGP-BPS10 battery)

Another derivation of the name Praha is suggested from na prazě, the original term for the shale hillside rock upon which the original castle was built. At that time, the castle was surrounded by forests, covering the nine hills of the future city – the Old Town on the opposite side of the river, as well as the Lesser Town beneath the existing castle, appeared only later. (SONY VGP-BPL10 battery)

Nicknames for Prague have included: Praga mater urbium/Praha matka měst ("Prague – Mother of Cities") in Latin/Czech, Stověžatá Praha ("City of a Hundred Spires") based on a count by 19th-century mathematician Bernard Bolzano. Today's count is estimated at 500.[31]

Other nicknames: Zlaté město/Goldene Stadt ("Golden City") in Czech/German.[32]

Franz Kafka monument in the Dusni Street, next to the Spanish synagogue, sculptor Jaroslav Rona

Since the fall of the Iron Curtain(SONY VGP-BPS11 battery), Prague has become one of the world's most popular tourist destinations. It is the sixth-most-visited European city after London, Paris, Rome, Madrid and Berlin.[33] Prague suffered considerably less damage during World War II than some other major cities in the region, allowing most of its historic architecture to stay true to form. It contains one of the world's most pristine and varied collections of architecture, from Art Nouveau to Baroque, Renaissance, Cubist, Gothic, Neo-Classical and ultra-modern. Some popular sights include(SONY VGP-BPL11 battery):

Old Town Square (Staroměstské náměstí) with gothic and baroque architectural styles

Municipal House, a major civic landmark and concert hall known for its Art Nouveau architectural style and political history in the Czech Republic.

Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague, with an extensive collections including glass, furniture, textile, toys, Art Nouveau, Cubism and Art Deco

Clam-Gallas Palace, a baroque palace from 1713

Vyšehrad Castle with Vyšehrad cemetery and Prague oldest Rotunda of St. Martin

The Prague Metronome at Letná park, a giant, functional metronome that looms over the city

Prague Zoo in Troja, selected as the seventh-best zoo in the world by Forbes magazine[34]

Průmyslový Palace, Křižík's Light Fountain, Lunapark funfair and Sea World Aquarium in Výstaviště compound in Holešovice(SONY VGP-BPL12 battery)

Letohrádek Hvězda (Star Villa) in Liboc, a villa in the shape of a six-pointed star surrounded by a game reserve

Prague is situated on the Vltava river, at 50°05"N and 14°27"E.[35] in the centre of the Bohemian Basin. Prague is approximately at the same latitude as Frankfurt, Germany;[36] Paris, France;[37] and Vancouver, Canada.[38]

The city of Prague has borderline oceanic climate (Köppen Cfb). The winters are relatively cold with very little sunshine. Snow cover can be common between mid-November to late March(SONY VGP-BPS12 battery). Summers usually bring fine sunny days with highs being around 25 degrees. Nights can be quite cool even in summer, though. Precipitation in Prague is rather low (it is less rainy than Rome and Paris) as the shadow of the Ore Mountains and the Czech Central Highlands takes effect. The driest season is usually winter while the summers can bring quite heavy rain especially in form of violent storms and showers(SONY VGP-BPS13 battery). Temperature inversions are relatively common between mid-October and mid-March bringing often cloudy, cold days in comparison with mountains or highlands and can be often connected with air pollution.

The city is traditionally one of the cultural centres of Europe, hosting many cultural events.

Some of the significant cultural institutions include the National Theatre (Národní Divadlo) and the Estates Theatre (Stavovské or Tylovo or Nosticovo divadlo), where the premières of Mozart's Don Giovanni and(SONY VGP-BPS13Q battery) La clemenza di Tito were held. Other major cultural institutions are the Rudolfinum which is home to the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra and the Municipal House which is home to the Prague Symphony Orchestra. The Prague State Opera (Státní opera) performs at the Smetana Theatre.

The city has many world-class museums, including the National Museum (Národní muzeum), the Museum of the Capital City of Prague, the Jewish Museum in Prague, the Alfons Mucha Museum, the African-Prague Museum(SONY VGP-BPS13A/Q battery), the Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague the Náprstek Museum (Náprstkovo Muzeum), the Josef Sudek Gallery, the National Library and the National Gallery.

There are hundreds of concert halls, galleries, cinemas and music clubs in the city. It hosts music festivals including the Prague Spring International Music Festival, the Prague Autumn International Music Festival and the Prague International Organ Festival(SONY VGP-BPS13B/Q battery). Film festivals include the Febiofest, the One World Film Festival and Echoes of the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival. The city also hosts the Prague Writers' Festival, the Prague Folklore Days, Prague Advent Choral Meeting g, the Summer Shakespeare Festival,[41] the Prague Fringe Festival, the World Roma Festival, as well as the hundreds of Vernissages and fashion shows(SONY VGP-BPS13/B battery).

Many films have been made at Barrandov Studios and at Prague Studios. Hollywood films set in Prague include Mission Impossible, xXx, Blade II, Alien vs. Predator, Doom, Chronicles of Narnia, Hellboy, Red Tail, Children of Dune and Van Helsing.[42] Other Czech films shot in Prague include Empties, EuroTrip, Amadeus and The Fifth Horseman is Fear. Also, the music video to "Diamonds from Sierra Leone" by Kanye West was shot in the city(SONY VGP-BPS13B/B battery), and features shots of the Charles Bridge and the Astronomical Clock, among other famous landmarks. Rihanna's "Don't Stop the Music" video was filmed at Prague's Radost FX Club. The city was also the setting for the film Dungeons and Dragons in 2000. The music video "Silver and Cold" by AFI, an American rock band, was also filmed in Prague. Many Indian films have also been filmed in the city including Yuvraaj, Drona and Rockstar (2011 film) (SONY VGP-BPS13A/S battery).

Forbes Traveler magazine listed Prague Zoo among the world's best zoos.[43]

With the growth of low-cost airlines in Europe, Prague has become a popular weekend city destination allowing tourists to visit its many museums and cultural sites as well as try its famous Czech beers and hearty cuisine.

The city has many buildings by renowned architects, including Adolf Loos (Villa Müller), Frank O. Gehry (Dancing House) and Jean Nouvel (Golden Angel).

Recent major events held in Prague:

International Monetary Fund and World Bank Summit 2000

NATO Summit 2002(SONY VGP-BPS21A/B battery)

International Olympic Committee Session 2004

International Astronomical Union General Assembly 2006

Prague restaurant Allegro received the first Michelin star in the whole of post-Communist part of Central Europe. As of 2012 there are two Michelin-starred restaurants in Prague (Alkrone and Degustacion Bohema).

At Malá Strana, Staré Město, Žižkov or Nusle there are hundreds of restaurants, bars and pubs, especially with good Czech beer. Prague also hosts the Czech Beer Festival (Český pivní festival), it is the biggest beer festival in the Czech Republic, held for 17 days every year in May(SONY VGP-BPS21B battery). At the festival, more than 70 brands of Czech beer can be tasted.

Prague's economy accounts for 25% of the Czech Republic's GDP[44] making it the highest performing regional economy of the country. According to the Eurostat, as of 2007, its GDP per capita in purchasing power standard is 42,800 €. Prague ranked the 5th best-performing European NUTS two-level region at 172 percent of the EU-27 average.[4]

The city is the site of the European headquarters of many international companies. (SONY VGP-BPS21 battery)

Since 1990, the city's economic structure has shifted from industrial to service-oriented. Industry is present in sectors such as pharmaceuticals, printing, food processing, manufacture of transport equipment, computer technology and electrical engineering. In services sector, most significant are financial services, commercial services, trade, restaurants and accommodations and public administration(SONY VGP-BPS21/S battery). Services account for around 80 percent of employment. There are 800,000 employees in Prague, including 120,000 commuters.[44] The number of (legally registered) foreign residents in Prague has been increasing in spite of the country's economic downturn. As of March 2010, 148,035 foreign workers were reported to be living in the city making up about 18 percent of the workforce, up from 131,132 in 2008.[45] Approximately one-fifth of all investment in the Czech Republic takes place in the city(SONY VGP-BPS13S battery).

Almost one-half of the national income from tourism is spent in Prague. The city offers approximately 73,000 beds in accommodation facilities, most of which were built after 1990, including almost 51,000 beds in hotels and boarding houses.

From the late 1990s to late 2000s, the city was a popular filming location for international productions and Hollywood, Bollywood motion pictures. A combination of architecture, low costs and the existing motion picture infrastructure have proven attractive to international film production companies(SONY VGP-BPS13B/S battery).

The modern economy of Prague is largely service and export-based and, in a 2010 survey, the city was named the best city in East Europe for business.[46]

In 2005, Prague was deemed among the three best cities in eastern Europe according to The Economist's livability rankings.[47] The city was named as a top-tier nexus city for innovation across multiple sectors of the global innovation economy(SONY VGP-BPS13B/G battery), placing 29th globally out of 289 cities, ahead of Brussels and Helsinki for innovation in 2010 in 2thinknow annual analysts Innovation Cities Index. The street Na Příkopě in New Town is the most expensive in whole Central Europe.[49]

In the Eurostat research, Prague ranked fifth among Europe's 271 regions in terms of gross domestic product per inhabitant, achieving 172 percent of the EU average(SONY VGP-BPS14 battery). It ranked just above Paris and well above the Czech Republic as a whole, which achieved 80 percent of the EU average.

The region city of Prague is an important centre of research. It is the seat of 39 out of 54 institutes of the Czech Academy of Sciences, including the largest ones, the Institute of Physics, the Institute of Microbiology and the Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry. It is also a seat of 10 public research institutes(SONY VGP-BPL14 battery), four business incubators and large hospitals performing research and development activities such as the Institute for Clinical and Experimental Medicine in Prague or the Motol University Hospital. Universities seated in Prague (see section Colleges and Universities) also represent important centres of science and research activities(SONY VGP-BPS14/B battery).

As of 2008, there were 13,000 researchers (out of 30,000 in the Czech Republic, counted in full-time equivalent), representing 3% share of Prague's economically active population. Gross expenditure on research and development accounted for 901.3 million € (41.5% of country's total). (SONY VGP-BPS14/S battery)

Some well-known multinational companies have established research and development facilities in Prague, among them Siemens, Honeywell and Sun Microsystems.

In 2010, Prague was selected to host administration of the EU satellite navigation system Galileo.

Overview of Václav Havel Airport Prague at night, Terminal 2 behind control tower on the left and Terminal 1 on the right(SONY VGP-BPS14B battery)

The public transport infrastructure consists of an intensely used integrated transport system of Prague Metro (its length is 59 km with 57 stations in total), Prague tram system, buses, the Petřín funicular to Petřín Hill, and six ferries: PID, Pražská integrovaná doprava (Prague integrated transport system). Prague has one of the highest rates of public transport usage in the world[citation needed] with 1.2 billion passenger journeys per annum(SONY VGP-BPS22 battery). In Prague there are also three cable cars. The first is the on Petrin Hill and the other is on the hill Mrázovka and the third is at the zoo in Troja.

The Metro has three major lines extending throughout the city; in June 2010, construction began to extend the green line further into the northwest corner of Prague and eventually to the airport.[53] A fourth Metro line is planned, although a date for construction to begin has not yet been specified.[54] In operation there are currently two kinds of units(SONY VGP-BPS22 battery): "81-71M" which is modernized variant of the Soviet 81-71 and from 1998 new "M1" trains manufactured by consortium consisting of ČKD Praha, ADtranz and Siemens. The original Soviet vehicles "Ečs" were excluded in 1997, but one museum-set is monthly in operation at line C, another vehicle is also placed in public transport museum in depot Střešovice.[55] Per capita usage of the Prague metro is the highest in the world(SONY VGP-BPS18 battery). According to its builder, the escalator at Náměstí Míru station is the longest escalator in Europe.

Prague tram system now operates various types of trams: still popular classic Tatra T3, newer Tatra KT8D5, T6A5, Škoda 14 T designed by Porsche, newest Škoda 15 T and nostalgic tram number 91. Although Melbourne, Australia has the longest total tram system length in the world, Prague's tram network is one of the largest in the world by other measures(SONY VGP-BPS22/A battery). The Prague tram rolling stock consists of over 900 individual cars, of those around 700 are the T3 class, which are typically operated coupled together in pairs. The system carries more than 356 million passengers annually, the third highest tram patronage in the world after St Petersburg and Budapest. On a per capita basis, Prague has the second highest tram patronage after Zurich(SONY VGP-BPS22A battery).

All services have a common ticketing system, and are run by the Prague Public Transport Company (Dopravní podnik hl. m. Prahy, a. s.) and several other companies. Recently, the Regional Organiser of Prague Integrated Transport (ROPID) has franchised operation of ferries on the Vltava river, which are also a part of the public transport system with common fares. Taxi services operate from regulated taxi stands, and from independent taxi drivers who make pick-ups on the street(SONY Vaio VGN-CR120E/W battery). The main flow of traffic leads through the centre of the city and through inner and outer ring roads (only partially in operation).

Inner Ring Road (The City Ring "MO"): Once completed it will surround the wider central part of the city. The longest city tunnel in Europe with a proposed length of 5.5 kilometres (3.4 mi) and five interchanges is now being built to relieve congestion in the north-western part of Prague. Called Tunel Blanka and to be part of the City Ring Road(SONY Vaio VGN-CR120E/R battery), it is estimated that it will now cost – after several increases – 38 billion CZK. Construction started in 2007 and the tunnel is scheduled to be completed in 2013/2014. This tunnel complex will complete major part of the inner ring road. The entire City Ring is estimated to be finished after 2020(SONY Vaio VGN-CR120E/P battery).

Outer Ring Road (The Prague Ring "R1"): This ring road will connect all major motorways and speedways that meet each other in Prague region and provide faster transit without a necessity to drive through the city. So far 39 kilometres / 24 miles, out of total planned 83 kilometres / 52 miles, is in operation. Full completion is estimated around 2017.[56] Most recently, the southern part of this road (with a length of more than 20 kilometres / 12 miles) was opened on 22 September 2010(SONY Vaio VGN-CR120E/L battery).

The city forms the hub of the Czech railway system, with services to all parts of the Czech Republic and abroad. The railway system links Prague with major European cities, including Munich (Germany); Berlin (Germany); Vienna (Austria); Warsaw (Poland); Budapest (Hungary); Copenhagen (Denmark); Zurich (Switzerland); Moscow (Russia) and Amsterdam (the Netherlands) (all of which can be reached without transfers). Travel times range between 4.5 hours to Berlin and approximately 8 hours to Warsaw. (SONY Vaio VGN-CR120E battery)

Prague's main international railway station is Hlavní nádraží (formerly called Wilsonovo nádraží).[58] Rail services are also available from the main stations Praha – Masarykovo nádraží, Praha-Holešovice and Praha-Smíchov, in addition to selected suburban stations.

Prague is served by Václav Havel Airport, the biggest airport in the Czech Republic and one of the busiest in Central and Eastern Europe. It is the hub of the flag carrier(SONY Vaio VGN-CR11H/B battery), Czech Airlines,[59] as well as of the low-cost airlines Smart Wings and Wizzair operating throughout Europe. Other airports in Prague include the city's original airport at the Kbely north-east district, which is serviced by the Czech Air Force, internationally too: The runway (9–27) at Kbely is 2 km long. The airport also houses the Prague Aviation Museum. Close to town the Letňany airport is mainly used for private aviation and aeroclub aviation. Another airport in the proximity is Aero Vodochody aircraft factory's on the north, (SONY Vaio VGN-CR116E battery) used for testing purposes, as well as for aeroclub aviation. There are a few aeroclubs around Prague, such as the Točná airfield.

Prague was the location of U.S. President Barack Obama's speech on 5 April 2009, which led to the New START treaty with Russia, signed in Prague on 8 April 2010.[62]

The annual conference Forum 2000, which was founded by former Czech President Václav Havel, Japanese philanthropist Yohei Sasakawa, and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Elie Wiesel in 1996, is held in Prague(SONY Vaio VGN-CR115E battery). Its main objective is "to identify the key issues facing civilization and to explore ways to prevent the escalation of conflicts that have religion, culture or ethnicity as their primary components", and also intends to promote democracy in non-democratic countries and to support civil society. Conferences have attracted a number of prominent thinkers, Nobel laureates, former and acting politicians, business leaders and other individuals like: Frederik Willem de Klerk(Sony VAIO VGN-FZ11S battery), Bill Clinton, Nicholas Winton, Oscar Arias Sánchez, Dalai Lama, Hans Küng, Shimon Peres and Madeleine Albright.

Minsk (Belarusian: Мінск, pronounced [minsk]; Russian: Минск, [mʲinsk]) is the capital and largest city of Belarus, situated on the Svislač and Niamiha rivers. It is the administrative centre of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). As the national capital, Minsk has a special administrative status in Belarus and is the administrative centre of Minsk Region (voblast) and Minsk raion (district). In 2009, it had a population of 1,836,808(Sony VAIO VGN-FZ15T battery).

The earliest historical references to Minsk date to the 11th century (1067), when it was noted as a provincial city within the principality of Polotsk. The settlement developed on the rivers. In 1242, Minsk became a part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. It received town privileges in 1499.

From 1569, it was a capital of the Minsk Voivodship in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth(Sony VAIO VGN-FZ15G battery). It was part of a region annexed by the Russian Empire in 1793, as a consequence of the Second Partition of Poland. From 1919–1991, after the Russian Revolution, Minsk was the capital of the Belorussian Soviet Socialist Republic within the Soviet Union.

Minsk is located on the southeastern slope of the Minsk Hills, a region of rolling hills running from the southwest (upper reaches of the river Nioman) to the northeast – that is, to Lukomskaye Lake in northwestern [Belarus] (Sony VAIO VGN-FZ4000 battery). The average altitude above sea level is 220 metres (720 ft). The geography of Minsk was formed during the two most recent ice ages. The Svislach River, which flows across the city from the northwest to the southeast, is located in the urstromtal, an ancient river valley formed by water flowing from melting ice sheets at the end of the last Ice Age.

Minsk was initially developed on the hills, which allowed for defensive fortifications. However, in the 20th century, it grew to include the relatively flat plains in the southeast(Sony VAIO VGN-FZ460E battery).

Minsk is located in the area of mixed forests typical of most of Belarus. Pinewood and mixed forests border the edge of the city, especially in the north and east. Some of the forests were preserved as parks (for instance, the Chelyuskinites Park) as the city grew.

Minsk has a warm summer hemiboreal humid continental climate (Koppen Dfb), owing to its location between the strong influence of the moist air of the Atlantic Ocean and the dry air of the Eurasian landmass. Its weather is unstable and tends to change often(Sony VAIO VGN-FZ280E battery). The average January temperature is −4.5 °C (23.9 °F), while the average July temperature is 18.5 °C (65.3 °F). The lowest temperature was recorded on 17 January 1940, at −40 °C (−40 °F) and the warmest on 29 July 1936, at 35 °C (95 °F). This results in frequent fogs, common in the autumn and spring. Minsk receives annual precipitation of 690 millimetres (27 in), of which one third falls during the cold period (as snow and rain) and two thirds in the warm period. Throughout the year, most winds are westerly and northwesterly, bringing cool and moist air from the Atlantic(Sony VAIO VGN-FZ190 battery).

The water system near the city passes the watershed basins of the Baltic and Black seas. The Svisloch River flows through Minsk. Within the city limits are six small rivers (Myshka, etc.), all part of the Black Sea basin. Elevation above sea level within the city varies from 184 to 280 metres. The changes in elevation, together with two branches of the River Svisloch result in complicated local geographic relief. Minsk’s metropolitan water reservoirs (as of summer 2010) (Sony VAIO VGN-FZ150E battery), were suitable for swimming. The city regularly samples the city’s water; according to a study, the pathogen microflora was not found in the water [8]. From mid-May to the end of July 2010 about 28 tons of mown grass were removed to a landfill[9]. For the spring-autumn 2011, about 400 tons of debris was removed from the Svisloch river[10]. Drinking water is supplied to the city (as of June 2011) from two sources — underground and surface(Sony VAIO VGN-FZ160 battery). Artesian drinking water (total volume of drinking water – more than 60%) is consumed in Minsk’s city districts.

The ecological situation is monitored by Republican Centre of Radioactive and Environmental Control (Belarusian: Рэспубліканскі цэнтр радыяцыйнага кантролю і маніторынга прыроднага асяроддзя).[3]

During 2003–2008 the overall weight of contaminants increased from 186,000 to 247,400 tons. (Sony VAIO VGN-FZ260E battery) The change of gas as industrial fuel to mazut for financial reasons has worsened the ecological situation.[3] However, the majority of overall air pollution is produced by cars.[3] Belarusian traffic police DAI every year holds operation "Clean Air" to prevent the use of cars with extremely pollutive engines.[4] Sometimes the maximum normative concentration of formaldehyde and ammonia in air is exceeded in Zavodski District.[3] Other major contaminants are Chromium-VI and nitrogen dioxide. (Sony VAIO VGN-FZ140E battery) Zavodski, Partyzanski and Leninski districts, which are situated in the southeastern part of Minsk, are the most polluted areas in the city.[5]

The Saviour Church (1577) is part of an archaeological preservation in Zaslavl, 23 km (14 mi) northwest of Minsk.

The area of today's Minsk was settled by the Early East Slavs by the 9th century. The Svislach River valley was the settlement boundary between two Early East Slav tribes – the Krivichs and Dregovichs(Sony VAIO VGN-FZ11L battery). By 980, the area was incorporated into the early mediaeval Principality of Polatsk, one of the earliest East Slav states. Minsk was first mentioned in the name form Měneskъ (Мѣнескъ) in the Primary Chronicle for the year 1067 in association with the Battle on the river Nemiga.[6] 1067 is now widely accepted as the founding year of Minsk. City authorities consider the date of 2 September 1067, to be the exact founding date of the city, (Sony VAIO VGN-FZ11Z battery)though the town (by then fortified by wooden walls) had certainly existed for some time by then. The origin of the name is unknown but there are several theories.

In the early 12th century, the Principality of Polatsk disintegrated into smaller fiefs. The Principality of Minsk was established by one of the Polatsk dynasty princes. In 1129, the Principality of Minsk was annexed by Kiev, the dominant principality of Kievan Rus; however in 1146 the Polatsk dynasty regained control of the principality(Sony VAIO VGN-FZ11M battery). By 1150, Minsk rivalled Polatsk as the major city in the former Principality of Polatsk. The princes of Minsk and Polatsk were engaged in years of struggle trying to unite all lands previously under the rule of Polatsk.

Minsk escaped the Mongol invasion of Rus in 1237–1239. In 1242, Minsk became a part of the expanding Grand Duchy of Lithuania. It joined peacefully and local elites enjoyed high rank in the society of the Grand Duchy(Sony VAIO VGN-FZ18M battery). In 1413, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Kingdom of Poland entered into a union. Minsk became the centre of Minsk Voivodship (province). In 1441, the Lithuanian prince Kazimierz IV Jagiellon included Minsk in a list of cities enjoying certain privileges, and in 1499, during the reign of his son, Aleksander Jagiellon, Minsk received town privileges under Magdeburg law(Sony VAIO VGN-FZ18 battery). In 1569, after the Union of Lublin, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Kingdom of Poland merged into a single state, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. Afterwards, a Polish community including government clerks, officers, and craftsmen settled in Minsk.

By the middle of the 16th century, Minsk was an important economic and cultural centre in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. It was also an important centre for the Eastern Orthodox Church(Sony VAIO VGN-FZ210CE battery). Following the Union of Brest, both the Uniate church and the Roman Catholic Church increased in influence.

In 1654, Minsk was conquered by troops of Tsar Alexei of Russia. Russians governed the city until 1667, when it was regained by Jan Kasimir, King of Poland. By the end of the Polish-Russian war, Minsk had only about 2,000 residents and just 300 houses. The second wave of devastation occurred during the Great Northern War(Sony VAIO VGN-FZ31S battery), when Minsk was occupied in 1708 and 1709 by the army of Charles XII of Sweden and then by the army of Peter the Great.[citation needed] The last decades of the Polish rule involved decline or very slow development, since Minsk had become a small provincial town of little economic or military significance(Sony VAIO VGN-FZ31Z battery).

Minsk was annexed by Russia in 1793 as a consequence of the Second Partition of Poland. In 1796, it became the centre of the Minsk Governorate. All of the initial street names were replaced by Russian names, though the spelling of the city's name remained unchanged.

Throughout the 19th century, the city continued to grow and significantly improve(Sony VAIO VGN-FZ31E battery). In the 1830s, major streets and squares of Minsk were cobbled and paved. A first public library was opened in 1836, and a fire brigade was put into operation in 1837. In 1838, the first local newspaper, Minskiye gubernskiye vedomosti (“Minsk province news”) went into circulation. The first theatre was established in 1844. By 1860, Minsk was an important trading city with a population of 27,000. There was a construction boom that led to the building of 2 and 3-story brick and stone houses in Upper Town(Sony VAIO VGN-FZ31J battery).

Minsk's development was boosted by improvements in transportation. In 1846, the Moscow-Warsaw road was laid through Minsk. In 1871, a railway link between Moscow and Warsaw ran via Minsk, and in 1873, a new railway from Romny in Ukraine to the Baltic Sea port of Libava (Liepaja) was also constructed. Thus Minsk became an important rail junction and a manufacturing hub. A municipal water supply was introduced in 1872(Sony VAIO VGN-FZ31M battery), the telephone in 1890, the horse tram in 1892, and the first power generator in 1894. By 1900, Minsk had 58 factories employing 3,000 workers. The city also boasted theatres, cinemas, newspapers, schools and colleges, as well as numerous monasteries, churches, synagogues, and a mosque. According to the 1897 Russian census, the city had 91,494 inhabitants, with some 47,561 Jews constituting more than half of the city population(Sony VAIO VGN-FZ31B battery).

In the early years of the 20th century, Minsk was a major centre for the worker's movement in Belarus. The 1st Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, the forerunner to the Bolsheviks and eventually the CPSU, was held there in 1898. It was also one of the major centres of the Belarusian national revival, alongside Vilnia. However, the First World War affected the development of Minsk tremendously. By 1915, Minsk was a battle-front city(Sony VAIO VGN-FZ32 battery). Some factories were closed down, and residents began evacuating to the east. Minsk became the headquarters of the Western Front of the Russian army and also housed military hospitals and military supply bases.

The Russian Revolution had an immediate effect in Minsk. A Worker's Soviet was established in Minsk in October 1917, drawing much of its support from disaffected soldiers and workers. After the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk(Sony VAIO VGN-FZ410 battery), German forces occupied Minsk in February 1918.[citation needed] On 25 March 1918, Minsk was proclaimed the capital of the Belarusian People's Republic. The republic was short-lived; in December 1918, Minsk was taken over by the Red Army. In January 1919 Minsk was proclaimed the capital of the Belorussian SSR, though later in 1919 (see Operation Minsk) and again in 1920, the city was controlled by the Second Polish Republic during the course of the Polish-Bolshevik war(Sony VAIO VGN-FZ21 battery). Under the terms of the Peace of Riga, Minsk was handed back to the Russian SFSR and became the capital of the Belorussian SSR, one of the founding republics of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.

A programme of reconstruction and development was begun in 1922. By 1924, there were 29 factories in operation; schools, museums, theatres, libraries were also established. Throughout the 1920s and the 1930s, Minsk saw rapid development with dozens of new factories being built and new schools(Sony VAIO VGN-FZ21S battery), colleges, higher education establishments, hospitals, theatres, and cinemas being opened. During this period, Minsk was also a centre for the development of Belarusian language and culture.

Before World War II, Minsk had had a population of 300,000 people. After Germany invaded the Soviet Union on 22 June 1941, as part of Operation Barbarossa, Minsk immediately came under attack(Sony VAIO VGN-FZ21M battery). The city was bombed on the first day of the invasion and came under Wehrmacht control four days later. However, some factories, museums and tens of thousands of civilians had been evacuated to the east. The Germans designated Minsk the administrative centre of Reichskomissariat Ostland. Communists and sympathisers were killed or imprisoned; both locally and after being transported to Germany. Homes were requisitioned to house invading German forces(Sony VAIO VGN-FZ38M battery). Thousands starved as food was seized by the German Army and paid work was scarce. Some anti-soviet residents of Minsk, who hoped that Belarus could regain independence, did support the Germans, especially at the beginning of the occupation, but by 1942, Minsk had become a major centre of the Soviet partisan resistance movement against the invasion, in what is known as the German-Soviet War. For this role, Minsk was awarded the title Hero City in 1974(Sony VGN-NR11S/S Battery).

Minsk was, however, the site of one of the largest Nazi-run ghettos in World War II, temporarily housing over 100,000 Jews (see Minsk Ghetto).

Main article: Minsk Offensive

Minsk was recaptured by Soviet troops on 3 July 1944, during Operation Bagration. The city was the centre of German resistance to the Soviet advance and saw heavy fighting during the first half of 1944. Factories, municipal buildings, power stations, bridges, most roads and 80% of the houses were reduced to rubble(Sony VGN-NR11M/S Battery). In 1944, Minsk's population was reduced to a mere 50,000. After World War II, Minsk was rebuilt, but not reconstructed. The historical centre was replaced in the 1940s and 1950s by Stalinist architecture, which favoured grand buildings, broad avenues and wide squares. Subsequently, the city grew rapidly as a result of massive industrialisation. Since the 1960s Minsk's population has also grown apace, reaching 1 million in 1972 and 1.5 million in 1986(Sony VGN-NR260E/S Battery). Construction of Minsk Metro began on 16 June 1977, and the system was opened to the public on 30 June 1984, becoming the ninth metro system in the Soviet Union. The rapid population growth was primarily driven by mass migration of young, unskilled workers from rural areas of Belarus, as well as by migration of skilled workers from other parts of the Soviet Union. To house the expanding population, Minsk spread beyond its historical boundaries(Sony VGN-NR260E/T Battery). Its surrounding villages were absorbed and rebuilt as mikroraions, districts of high-density apartment housing.

Throughout the 1990s, after the fall of Communism, the city continued to change. As the capital of a newly independent country, Minsk quickly acquired the attributes of a major city. Embassies were opened, and a number of Soviet administrative buildings became government centres. During the early and mid-1990s(Sony VGN-NR260E/W Battery), Minsk was hit by an economic crisis and many development projects were halted, resulting in high unemployment and underemployment. Since the late 1990s, there have been improvements in transport and infrastructure, and a housing boom has been underway since 2002. On the outskirts of Minsk, new mikroraions of residential development have been built. Metro lines have been extended, and the road system (including the Minsk BeltWay) (Sony VGN-NR11Z/S Battery) has been improved. Owing to the small size of the private sector in Belarus, most development has so far been financed by the government. In January 2008, the city government announced several projects on its official web-site. Among them are the refurbishment of some streets and main avenues, the construction of more up-to-date hotels (one near the Palace of the Republic and another on the shore of Lake Komsomolkye) (Sony VGN-NR11Z/T Battery), the demolition of the out-of-date Belarus hotel and the erection in the same premises of a complex consisting of sport facilities, swimming pool, 2 hotel towers and one business center building with the help of potential foreign investors and the construction of a modern aquatic park in the outskirts of the city. On 8 September 2007, the city of Minsk celebrated 940 years since its founding(Sony VAIO VGN-FZ21E battery).

The Old East Slavic name of the town was Мѣньскъ (i.e. Měnsk < Early Proto-Slavic or Late Indo-European Mēnĭskŭ), derived from a river name Měn (< Mēnŭ). The direct continuation of this name in Belarusian is Miensk (pronounced [mʲɛnsk]). The resulting form of the name, Minsk (spelled either Минскъ or Мѣнскъ), was taken over both in Russian (modern spelling: Минск) and Polish (Mińsk), and under the influence especially of Russian it also became official in Belarusian(Sony VAIO VGN-FZ21Z battery). However, some Belarusian-speakers continue to use Miensk (spelled Менск) as their preferred name for the city.

When Belarus was under Polish rule, the names Mińsk Litewski 'Minsk of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania' and Mińsk Białoruski 'Minsk in Belarus' were used to differentiate this place name from Mińsk Mazowiecki 'Minsk in Masovia'. In modern Polish, Mińsk without an attribute is Minsk, which is about 50 times bigger than Mińsk Mazowiecki; (cf. Brest-Litovsk and Brześć Kujawski for a similar case) (Sony VAIO VGN-FZ21J battery).

The Belarusian rock band N.R.M. have recorded a song titled Miensk i Minsk (Miensk and Minsk) on their 2007 album "06".

During its first centuries, Minsk was a city with a predominantly Early East Slavic population (the forefathers of modern-day Belarusians). After the 1569 Polish–Lithuanian union, the city became a destination for migrating Poles (who worked as administrators, clergy, teachers and soldiers) and Jews (Sony VAIO VGN-FW11 battery) (predominately Ashkenazim, who worked in the retail trade and as craftsmen, as other opportunities were prohibited by discrimination laws). During the last centuries of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, many Minsk residents became polonised, adopting the language of the dominant Poles and assimilating to its culture.

After the second Partition of Poland in 1793, Minsk and its larger region became part of the Russian Empire(Sony VAIO VGN-FW11M battery). The Russians dominated the city's culture as had the Poles in earlier centuries. By the end of the 19th century, residents in Minsk accepted increasing russification in order to survive[unbalanced opinion]. Many locals became russified and continue to claim Russian ethnicity today.[citation needed]

At the time of the 1897 census under the Russian Empire, Jews comprised the largest ethnic group in Minsk, constituting 52% of the population(Sony VAIO VGN-FW11S battery), with 47,500 of the 91,000 residents.[8] Other substantial ethnic groups were Russians (25.5%), Poles (11.4%) and Belarusians (9%). The latter figure may be not accurate as some local Belarusians were likely counted as Russians. A small traditional community of Lipka Tatars had been living in Minsk for centuries(Sony VAIO VGN-FW21E battery).

The high mortality of World War I and World War II affected the demographics of the city, particularly the destruction of Jews under the Nazi occupation of World War II. Working through local populations, Germans instituted deportation of the Jews to concentration camps, murdering most of them there. The Jewish community of Minsk suffered catastrophic losses in the Holocaust. From more than half the population of the city(Sony VAIO VGN-FW21J battery), the percentage of Jews dropped to less than 10 percent more than a decade after the war. After its limited population peaked in the 1970s, continuing anti-Semitism under the Soviet Union and increasing nationalism in Belarus caused most Jews to emigrate to Israel and western countries in the 1980s; by 1999, less than one percent of the population of Minsk was Jewish.

In the first three decades of the post-war years, the most numerous new residents in Minsk were rural migrants from other parts of Belarus(Sony VAIO VGN-FW21L battery); the proportion of ethnic Belarusians increased markedly. Numerous skilled Russians and other migrants from other parts of the Soviet Union migrated for jobs in the growing manufacturing sector.[9] In 1959 Belarusians made up 63.3% of the city's residents. Other ethnic groups included Russians (22.8%), Jews (7.8%), Ukrainians (3.6%), Poles (1.1%) and Tatars (0.4%). Continued migration from rural Belarus in the 1960s and 1970s changed the ethnic composition further(Sony VAIO VGN-FW41M battery). By 1979 Belarusians made up 68.4% of the city's residents. Other ethnic groups included Russians (22.2%), Jews (3.4%), Ukrainians (3.4%), Poles (1.2%) and Tatars (0.2%).[9]

According to the 1989 census, 82% percent of Minsk residents have been born in Belarus. Of those, 43% have been born in Minsk and 39% – in other parts of Belarus. 6.2% of Minsk residents came from regions of western Belarus (Grodno and Brest Regions), and 13% – from eastern Belarus (Mogilev, Vitebsk and Gomel Regions). 21.4% of residents came from central Belarus (Minsk Region) (Sony VAIO VGN-FW41M/H battery).

According to the 1999 census, Belarusians make up 79.3% of the city's residents. Other ethnic groups include Russians (15.7%), Ukrainians (2.4%), Poles (1.1%) and Jews (0.6%). The Russian and Ukrainian populations of Minsk peaked in the late 1980s (at 325,000 and 55,000 respectively). After the break-up of the Soviet Union and increased nationalism in Belarus creating hostility to ethnic Russians and Ukrainians(Sony VAIO VGN-FW21M battery), many of them chose to move to their respective mother countries, although some families had been in Minsk for generations. Another factor in the shifting demographics of the city was the changing self-identification of Minsk residents of mixed ancestry – in independent Belarus they identify as Belarusians(Sony VAIO VGN-FW21Z battery).

The Jewish population of Minsk peaked in the early 1970s at 50,000 according to official figures; independent estimates put the figure at 100–120,000. Beginning in the 1980s, there has been mass-scale emigration to Israel, the USA and Germany. Today only about 10,000 Jews live in Minsk. The traditional minorities of Poles and Tatars have remained at much the same size (17,000 and 3,000 respectively) (Sony VAIO VGN-FW32J battery). Rural Poles have migrated from the western part of Belarus to Minsk, and many Tatars have moved to Minsk from Tatarstan.

Some more recent ethnic minority communities have developed as a result of immigration. The most prominent are immigrants from the Caucasus countries—Georgians, Armenians and Azerbaijanis, each numbering about 2,000–5,000. They began migrating to Minsk in the 1970s, and more immigrants have joined them since(Sony VAIO VGN-FW17W battery). Many work in the retail trade in open-air markets. A small but prominent Arab community has developed in Minsk, primarily represented by recent economic immigrants from Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, Algeria, etc. (In many cases, they are graduates of Minsk universities who decide to settle in Belarus and bring over their families). A small community of gypsies, numbering about 2,000, are settled in suburbs of north-western and southern Minsk(Sony VAIO VGN-FW31E battery).

Throughout its history Minsk has been a city of many languages. Initially most of its residents spoke Ruthenian (which later developed into modern Belarusian). However, after 1569 the official language was Polish.[citation needed] In the 19th century Russian became the official language and by the end of that century it had become the language of administration, schools and newspapers(Sony VAIO VGN-FW139E battery). The Belarusian national revival increased interest in the Belarusian language—its use has grown since the 1890s, especially among the intelligentsia. In the 1920s and early 1930s Belarusian was the major language of Minsk, including use for administration and education (both secondary and tertiary). However, since the late 1930s Russian again began gaining dominance(Sony VAIO VGN-FW139E/H battery).

A short period of Belarusian national revival in the early 1990s saw a rise in the numbers of Belarusian speakers. However, in 1994 the newly elected president Alexander Lukashenko slowly reversed this trend. Most residents of Minsk now use Russian exclusively in their everyday lives at home and at work, although Belarusian is understood as well. Substantial numbers of recent migrants from the rural areas use Trasyanka (a Russo-Belarusian mixed language) in their everyday lives(Sony VAIO VGN-FW465J battery).

The most commonly used and understood international language in Minsk, especially among the younger generation, is English.

There are no reliable statistics on religious affiliations in Minsk or in Belarus.

Currently there are 24 churches of various denominations; another 10 are being built or reconstructed.

Minsk has the highest crime rate in Belarus — 193.5 crimes per 10,000 citizens. 20–25% of all serious crimes in Belarus, 55% of bribes and 67% of mobile phone thefts are committed in Minsk. (Sony VAIO VGN-FW31M battery) However, attorney general Grigory Vasilevich stated that homicide rate in Minsk in 2008 was "relatively fine".

Crime rate grew significantly in 2009 and 2010:[10] for example, number of corruption crimes grew by 36% in 2009 alone.[14] Crime detection level varies from 13% in burglary[15] to 92% in homicide[16] with an average 40.1%.[17] Many dwellers are concerned for their safety at night and the strongest concern was expressed by residents of Chizhovka and Shabany microdistricts (both in Zavodski District) (Sony VAIO VGN-FW31J battery).

In Minsk are situated the SIZO-1 detention centre, IK-1 general prison and KGB special gaol called "Amerikanka". Alexander Lukashenko's rivals in the 2010 presidential election were imprisoned in the KGB gaol[18] and other prominent politicians and civil activists. Ales Michalevic, who was kept in this jail, accused KGB of using torture(Sony VAIO VGN-FW31Z battery).

Minsk is the economic capital of Belarus. It has developed industrial and services sectors which serve the needs not only of the city, but of the entire nation. Minsk's contributions form nearly 46% of Belarusian budget.[21] According to 2010 results, Minsk paid 15 trillion BYR to state budget while the whole income from all other regions was 19.9 trillion BYR. (Sony VGN-NR11Z Battery)

Minsk is the major industrial centre of Belarus. The city has over 250 factories and plants. Its industrial development started in the 1860s and was facilitated by the railways built in the 1870s. However, much of the industrial infrastructure was destroyed during World War I and especially during World War II. After the last war the development of the city was linked to the development of industry, especially of R&D-intensive sectors (Sony VGN-NR11S Battery) (heavy emphasis of R&D intensive industries in urban development in the USSR is known in Western geography as 'Minsk phenomenon'). Minsk was turned into a major production site for trucks, tractors, gears, optical equipment, refrigerators, television sets and radios, bicycles, motorcycles, watches, and metal-processing equipment. Outside machine-building and electronics(Sony VGN-NR110E Battery), Minsk also had textiles, construction materials, food processing, and printing industries. During the Soviet period, development of the industries was linked to suppliers and markets within the USSR, and the break-up of the union in 1991 led to a serious economic meltdown in 1991–1994.

However, since the adoption of the neo-Keynesean policies under Alexander Lukashenko's government in 1995, much of the gross industrial production was regained(Sony VGN-NR110E/T Battery). Unlike many other cities in the CIS and Eastern Europe Minsk was not heavily de-industrialised in the 1990s. About 40% of the work force is still employed in the manufacturing sector. Over 70% of produced goods are exported from Belarus, especially to Russia and other members of the Commonwealth of Independent States[citation needed]. However, the recent industrial revival did not lead to updating technologies and equipment (as FDI was discouraged) (Sony VGN-NR110E/S Battery), therefore much of the local industry is not highly competitive by international standards.[citation needed]

Major industrial employers include:

Minsk Tractor Plant – specialised in manufacturing tractors. Established in 1946 in eastern Minsk, is among major manufacturers of wheeled tractors in the CIS. Employs about 30,000 staff.

Minsk Automobile Plant – specialising in producing trucks, buses and mini-vans. Established in 1944 in south-eastern Minsk, is among major vehicle manufacturers in the CIS. (Sony VGN-CR11Z Battery)

Minsk Refrigerator Plant (also known as Atlant) – specialised in manufacturing household goods, such as refrigerators, freezers, and recently also of washing machines. Established in 1959 in north-west of the city.

Horizont – specialised in producing TV-sets, audio and video electronics. Established in 1950 in north-central Minsk(Sony VGN-CR11S Battery).

Official statistics quote unemployment in Minsk at 0.3%. [23] During 2009 census 5.6% of Minsk residents of employable age called themselves unemployed.[23] The government discourages official unemployment registration with tiny unemployment benefits (70 000 BYR ≈ $14 per month) and obligatory public works(Sony VGN-CR11M Battery).

Minsk has an extensive public transport system.[24] Passengers are served by 8 tramway lines, over 70 trolleybus lines, and over 100 bus lines. Trams were the first public transport used in Minsk (since 1892 – the horse-tram, and since 1929 – the electric tram). Public buses have been used in Minsk since 1924, and trolleybuses since 1952(Sony VGN-CR11E Battery).

All public transport is operated by Minsktrans, a government-owned and -funded transport not-for-profit company. As of January 2008, Minsktrans used 1,420 buses, 1,010 trolleybuses and 153 tramway cars in Minsk.

The Minsk city government in 2003 decreed that local transport provision should be set at a minimum level of 1 vehicle (bus, trolleybus or tram) per 1,500 residents. Currently the number of vehicles in use by Minsktrans is 2.2 times higher than the minimum level. (Sony VGN-CR21E Battery)

Public transport fares are controlled by city's executive committee (city council). Single trip ticket for bus, trolleybus, tramway or metro costs 1700 BYR [25] and 2400 BYR for express buses.[25] Monthly ticket for one kind of transport costs 72 900 BYR and 131 400 BYR for all four.[25] Commercial marshrutka's prices varies from 6000 to 7000 BYR(Sony VGN-CR21S Battery).

Minsk is the only city in Belarus with an underground metro system. Construction of the metro began in 1977, soon after the city reached over a million people, and the first line with 8 stations was opened in 1984. Since then it has expanded into two lines: Moskovskaya and Avtozavodskaya, which are 12.2 and 18.1 km (7.6 and 11.2 mi) long with 11 and 14 stations, respectively. On 7 November 2007, two new stations on the Moskovskaya Line were opened; work continues on a 5.2 km (3.2 mi) extension, with 3 more stations slated to open in 2012(Sony VGN-CR21Z Battery).

There are plans for a network with three lines totalling (based on present expansion plans) 58.3 km (36.2 mi) of track with 45 stations and 3 train depots. For this to happen the third line should cut the city on a north-south axis crossing the existing two and thus forming a typical Soviet triangle layout(Sony VGN-CR31S Battery); construction of the third line is expected to begin in 2011 and for the first stage to be delivered in late 2010s. Some layout plans speculate on a possible fourth line running from Vyasnyanka to Serabranka micro-rayons.

As of 2007 Minsk metro had 25 stations and 33 km of tracks. Trains use 243 standard Russian metro-cars. On a typical day Minsk metro is used by 800,000 passengers. In 2007 ridership of Minsk metro was 262.1 million passengers, (Sony VGN-CR31E Battery)making it the 5th busiest metro network in the former USSR (behind Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kiev and Kharkiv). During peak hours trains run each 2-2.5 minutes. The metro network employs 3,200 staff.

Currently most of the urban transport is being actively renovated and upgraded to modern standards. For instance, all metro stations built since 2001 have passenger lifts from platform to street level, thus enabling the use of the newer stations by disabled passengers(Sony VGN-CR31Z Battery).

Electric Minsk city Stadler FLIRT trains at the railway station of Minsk-Passenger

Minsk is the largest transportation hub in Belarus. Minsk is located at the junction of the Warsaw-Moscow railway (built in 1871) running from the southwest to the northeast of the city and the Liepaja-Romny railway (built in 1873) running from the northwest to the south. The first railway connects Russia with Poland and Germany(Sony VGN-CR41Z Battery); the second connects Ukraine with Lithuania and Latvia. They cross at the Minsk-Passazhyrski railway station, the main railway station of Minsk. The station was built in 1873 as Vilenski vakzal. The initial wooden building was demolished in 1890 and rebuilt in stone. During World War II the Minsk railway station was completely destroyed. It was rebuilt in 1945 and 1946 and served until 1991. The new building of the Minsk-Passazhyrski railway station was built during 1991–2002(Sony VGN-CR41S Battery). Its construction was delayed due to financial difficulties; now, however, Minsk boasts one of the most modern and up-to-date railway stations in the CIS. There are plans to move all suburban rail traffic from Minsk-Passazhyrski to the smaller stations, Minsk- Uskhodni (East), Minsk-Paudnyovy (South) and Minsk-Paunochny (North), by 2020.

There are three intercity bus stations that link Minsk with the suburbs and other cities in Belarus and the neighbouring countries(Sony VGN-CR41E Battery). Frequent schedules of bus routes connect Minsk to Moscow, Smolensk, Vilnius, Riga, Kiev and Warsaw.

Minsk International Airport is located 42 km (26 mi) to the east of the city. It opened in 1982 and the current railway station opened in 1987. It is an international airport with flights to Europe and Middle East.

Minsk-1 opened in 1933 a few kilometres to the south of the historical centre. In 1955 it became an international airport and by 1970 served over 1 million passengers a year(Sony VGN-CR42Z Battery).

From 1982 it mainly served domestic routes in Belarus and short-haul routes to Moscow, Kiev and Kaliningrad. Minsk-1 was expected to be closed in 2008 because of the noise pollution in the surrounding residential areas, but in the mid-2010 it is still functioning. The land of the airport is planned to be redeveloped for residential and commercial real estate, currently branded as Minsk-City(Sony VGN-CR42S Battery).

Minsk is the major educational centre of Belarus. It has about 500 kindergartens, 258 schools, 28 further education colleges, and 36 higher education institutions, including 12 major national universities.

[edit]Major higher educational institutions

Academy of Public Administration under the aegis of the President of the Republic of Belarus. The Academy was established in 1991 and it acquired the status of a presidential institution in 1995(Sony VGN-CR42E Battery). In structure of Academy 3 institutes: Institute of Administrative Personnel has 3 departments, Institute of Civil Service has also 3 departments and Research Institute of the Theory and Practice of Public Administration.

Belarusian State University. Major Belarusian universal university, founded in 1921. In 2006 had 15 major departments (Applied Mathematics and Informatics; Biology; Chemistry; Geography; Economics; International Relations; Journalism(Sony Vaio VGN-CR11S/L Battery); History; Humanitarian Sciences; Law; Mechanics and Mathematics; Philology; Philosophy and Social Sciences; Physics; Radiophysics and Electronics). It also included 5 R&D institutes, 24 Research Centres, 114 R&D laboratories. The University employs over 2,400 lecturers and 1,000 research fellows; 1,900 of these hold PhD or Dr. Sc. degrees. There are 16,000 undergraduate students at the university, as well as over 700 PhD students(Sony Vaio VGN-CR11S/P Battery).

Belarusian State University of Agricultural Technology. Specialised in agricultural technology and agricultural machinery.

Belarusian National Technical University. Specialised in technical disciplines.

Belarusian State Medical University. Specialised in Medicine and Dentistry. Since 1921 – Medicine Department of the Belarusian State University. In 1930 becomes separate as Belarusian Medical Institute. In 2000 upgraded to university level. Currently has 6 departments.

Belarusian State Economic University. Specialised in Finance and Economics. Founded in 1933 as Belarusian Institute for National Economy. Upgraded to university level in 1992(Sony Vaio VGN-CR11S/W Battery).

Maxim Tank Belarusian State Pedagogical University. Specialised in teacher training for secondary schools.

Belarusian State University of Informatics and Radioelectronics. Specialised in IT and radioelectronic technologies. Established in 1964 as Minsk Institute for Radioelectronics.

Belarusian State University of Physical Training. Specialised in sports, coaches and PT teachers training(Sony Vaio VGN-CR11Z/R Battery).

Belarusian State Technological University. Specialised in chemical and pharmaceutical technology, in printing and forestry. Founded in 1930 as Forestry Institute in Homel. In 1941 evacuated to Sverdlovsk, now Yekaterinburg. Returned to Gomel in 1944, but in 1946 relocated to Minsk as Belarusian Institute of Technology. Upgraded to university level in 1993. Currently has 9 departments(Sony Vaio VGN-CR13/B Battery).

Minsk State Linguistic University. Specialised in foreign languages. Founded in 1948 as Minsk Institute for Foreign Languages. In 2006 had 8 departments. Major focus on English, French, German and Spanish.

Belarusian State University of Culture and Arts. Specializes in cultural studies, visual and Performing Arts. Founded in 1975 as Minsk Institute of Culture. Reorganized in 1993(Sony Vaio VGN-CR13/L Battery).

International Sakharov Environmental University. Specialised in environmental sciences. Established in 1992 with the support from the United Nations. Focus on study and research of radio-ecological consequences of the Chernobyl nuclear power station disaster in 1986, which heavily affected Belarus.

International Institute of Labour and Social Relations. Specializes in International Economic Relations, International Law, Marketing, Finance and Management. It is established by Federations of Trade Unions of Belarus(Sony Vaio VGN-CR13/P Battery).

Minsk Institute of Management. The largest private higher educational institution in Belarus. Established in 1991. Specializes in Economics, Management, Marketing, Finance, Psychology and Information technology.

Minsk is the major cultural centre of Belarus. Its first theatres and libraries were established in the middle of the 19th century. Now it has 11 theatres and 16 museums. There are 20 cinemas and 139 libraries(Sony Vaio VGN-CR13/R Battery).

The Orthodox Cathedral of the Holy Spirit is actually the former church of the Bernardine convent. It was built in the simplified Baroque style in 1642–87 and went through renovations in 1741–46 and 1869.

The Cathedral of Saint Mary was built by the Jesuits as their monastery church in 1700–10, restored in 1951 and 1997; it overlooks the recently restored 18th-century city hall, located on the other side of the Independence Square(Sony Vaio VGN-CR13/W Battery);

Two other historic churches are the cathedral of Saint Joseph, formerly affiliated with the Bernardine monastery, built in 1644–52 and repaired in 1983, and the fortified church of Sts. Peter and Paul, originally built in the 1620s and recently restored, complete with its flanking twin towers(Sony Vaio VGN-CR13G Battery).

The impressive Neo-Romanesque Roman Catholic Red Church (Cathedral of Sts. Simeon and Helene) was built in 1906–10 immediately after religious freedoms were proclaimed in Imperial Russia and the tsar allowed dissidents to build their churches;

The largest church built in the Russian imperial period of the town's history is dedicated to St. Mary Magdalene(Sony Vaio VGN-CR13G/B Battery);

Many Orthodox churches were built after the dissolution of the USSR in a variety of styles, although most remain true to the Neo-Russian idiom. A good example is St. Elisabeth's Convent, founded in 1999.