Mala Strana District, Prague, Czech Republic Stock Photo

Mala Strana (German: Prager Kleinseite) is a district of the city of Prague, Czech Republic, and one of its most historic regions. This name derives from its position on the left (west) bank of the river Vltava, on the slopes just below the Prague Castle, in opposition to the larger towns of Prague on the right bank, to which it is conjoined by the Charles Bridge. In the Middle Ages, it was a dominant centre of the ethnic German citizens of Prague. It also housed a large number of noble palaces while the right-bank towns were comparatively more bourgeois and more Bohemian Czech.