In 2010 I travelled to Prague, capital of Bohemia and the modern Czech Republic. Many famous events in the history of the Holy Roman Empire took place here, and in the 20th century the Czech lands passed from the Austrians to the Germans to the Russians and finally to independence.

Prague's Old Town Hall features an old astronomical clock and calendar. On the hour, the clock chimes and a series of moving figures appear while the figure of Death rings a bell. The clock face shows Italian hours.
Charles IV made Prague the capital of the Holy Roman Empire and initiated construction of the eponymous bridge and university.
Charles IV brought the Frenchman Matthew Of Arras to Prague to rebuild the cathedral following the classical French plan. Subsequent innovations by Peter Parler gave rise to the empire's distinctive sondergotik.
One of the most curious features of the cathedral is the frescoed and dome-vaulted chapel of St. Wenceslaus, containing his tomb and the Czech crown jewels. According to legend, a person who wears the crown without the right to do so will die within a year, and this fate befell one Nazi governor.
The castle was the scene of the famous Defenestration Of Prague, when protestant followers of Jan Hus tossed a pair of catholic counts seeking to limit their religious freedom out of the window. The event marked the beginning of the Thirty Years' War which would end in Prague being sacked by the Swedish army (who took the Devil's Bible back to Stockholm), and in a peace founded on religious freedom and national sovereignty.
According to legend, the Golem Of Prague was created from clay to protect the Jews, and now rests in the attic of the Old New Synagogue ready to be re-animated if needed.
Elizabeth I's astrologer John Dee spent some time in Prague before becoming warden at Manchester. One theory has him selling the Voynich Manuscript to Rudolf II.

Kutná Hora's fortunes rose and fell with the local silver mines. The Italian Court was the site of the Czech royal mint.

The church of St. Barbara was begun by the Parlers (with clear French influence) while the exquisite later work was done by Benedikt Rejt.
Just outside Kutná Hora, the famed ossuary at Sedlec can be found. A woodcarver arranged the accumulated bones in 1870. The cathedral meanwhile is a key example of "gothic survival" (through combination with the baroque) by Jan Santini Aichel, dating from 1708 (just 40 years before Strawberry Hill).