City brand image

Anotace: The article focuses on analysis of the Prague brand image from the point of signs (symbols) that make it up and also of their links in relation to the recipients, as well as to the creators of their meaning. By means of a particular example of Prague we point at the fact that the "language" of symbols communicated by the city with its real and potential users is read and deciphered differently. The study shows the existing semantic differentiation between the three monitored groups of experts on tourism and branding: domestic (Czech) experts and two groups of foreign experts: from Slovakia (as a country with the strong mutual links based on the common history and persistent intensive contacts until now) and other countries of the world. Three groups of signs are analyzed in particular: (1) iconic signs - representing the territory as a whole, respectively reflecting the real form of the territory or its elements; they are its identical reflection, (2) index signs – in comparison to the previous ones they only indicate a causal relationship with the territory or its elements that refer to it (it is so called the derived relation) and (3) symbolic signs – a decryption of their meanings is the result of the convention because these signs usually do not indicate any direct causal link between the city and the symbol that represents it.