Towards new Prague! Traditions, visions and constructing the city and its image after 1945

The thesis focuses on the construction and symbolic encoding of Prague from 1945 to the late 1950s, with emphasis on the Stalinist era. Based on an analysis of historical texts and architectural projects, the thesis studies the motivations and tactics, which the post-war political and professional elites sought to manifest their own values and ideological principles in the area of the capital city. Through the analysis of historical concepts of "old" and "new" Prague examines the thesis the changing relationship between tradition and modernity in the image of the city. The sociocultural phenomenon of Stalinism is thematized as a specific part of the long process of modernization, which passes through Prague during the first half of the 20th century. The thesis deals also with the attributes that should characterize the "new" socialist Prague and with the ways of using the Soviet patterns and local historical traditions. Keywords: Prague, city, image of the city, architecture, urbanism, memory, heritage, socialist realism, stalinism, 1950