High up in the Czech mountains, southwest of Prague, sits the Karlštejn Castle. It was built in 1348 for the King of Bohemia and later became the private residence for Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV. The castle housed the Imperial Crown Jewels and royal archives until the 17th century. Railways were important for connecting individual regions, while serving as a necessary condition of political and economic independence. This poster was printed as an advertisement for the Czechoslovak Railways in the 1930s, likely before German occupation (September 1938-March 1939). Czechoslovakia’s sovereignty as a nation was restored in 1945, lasting until its 1993 peaceful dissolution into the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
