Prague was reborn in the 1990s, after a 40-year slumber behind the Iron Curtain. As if untouched by time, the 1,000 year-old capital of the Czech Republic looked just as it had when Mozart, Kafka, Einstein and other members of the cultural and intellectual elite of Bohemia were drawn to the cafes, theaters, salons and studios that flourished among its elegant cobblestone streets and gothic spires.

But the “velvet revolution,” which opened the doors to capitalism created significant challenges, including indifference to business corruption, exposed ethnic divisions, and an expanding tourist industry that priced out Czech natives from the city’s core neighborhoods. In recent years, Czechs have returned to make Prague not simply the travel centre of Europe, but also a unique and welcoming place for people to live and work. Lexia students have an opportunity to explore both the old and the new of Prague: the creative legacies of Bohemian society, the stagnation of communist culture, and the turbulent effects of democratic reform.