Medieval growth.

The economic expansion of the community was reflected in the topography of the city. A market centre on the right bank, opposite Hradcany, developed into the Old Town (Stare mesto), particularly after the construction of the first stone bridge, the Judith Bridge, over the river in 1170. By 1230 the Old Town had been given borough status and was defended by a system of walls and fortifications. On the opposite bank, under the walls of Hradcany, the community known as Mala Strana (literally, "Small Side") was founded in 1257. Following the eclipse of the Premyslids, the house of Luxembourg came to power when John of Luxembourg, son of the future emperor Henry VII, became king of Bohemia. His son, Charles IV, Bohemian king and Holy Roman emperor, had his capital at Prague from 1346 to 1378 and took considerable personal interest in the development of the city. In 1348 he founded Charles University, the first in central Europe, which was later to attract scholars and students from throughout the Continent. His reign also saw the growth of the planned New Town (Nove mesto) adjacent to the Old Town; construction of the Charles Bridge (1357, reconstructed in 1970) linking the Old Town and the Mala Strana; and the beginning (1344) of the great St. Vitus' Cathedral, which was not completed until 1929. Other buildings included the Carolinum (the central hall of the university), the town hall, and several churches and monasteries in the New Town. The Jewish ghetto was also developed, and the bishopric was raised to an archbishopric in 1344. By the 14th century Prague had become a major central European city, with the Czech money minted at nearby Kutná Hora serving as the hard currency of the entire region. Foreign merchants, notably Germans and Italians, became economically and politically powerful in uneasy alliance with the kings. The social order, however, became less stable because of the emergent guilds of craftsmen, themselves often torn by internal conflicts. The town paupers added a further volatile element. >>