Procession to mark 650th anniversary of coronation of Emperor Charles IV
On Sunday a procession from Vysehrad to Prague Castle will commemorate the 650th anniversary of the coronation of Charles IV as holy Roman emperor. The colourful procession will feature around 150 participants in period costumes, including Charles IV himself and his third wife, Anna of Swidnica. Among the event's organisers is Michal Basch, mayor of Prague 2.
"The other point is that the coronation procession which is taking place does not relate to his coronation as emperor but seven years earlier as Czech king. He even himself wrote down a 'coronation order' describing the...points the coronation should go through, even the route of the coronation procession, and so on.
"His idea is interesting in that he always - even in this procession - respected two Prague Castles: Vysehrad, which is from the Premysl era and respecting his mother, and Hradcany, which was the choice of his father. So the coronation procession starts at Vysehrad and goes through Prague, the Old Town especially, to the Hradcany castle."
What will citizens of Prague see on Sunday, what form will the procession take?
"The procession will be in costumes. Part of it will be mounted, there will be carriages, some people will walk on foot..."
"There are surely several reasons. I, as mayor of Prague 2, at every step encounter the results of his rule, his ideas. The masterplan which he laid down for the Old Town and the New Town of Prague you see in the streets to this day.
"So one thing is he did a lot...revolutionary steps of his time, development of the city, development of the country. We may even say the introduction of vineyards to today's Czech Republic, which was not a usual plant here. Now we've even got them here in Prague 2."
