Marionette puppet theatre has had a very long history in entertainment in Prague, and elsewhere in the Czech Republic. It can be traced deep into the early part of the Middle Ages. Marionettes first appeared around the time of the Thirty Years' War. The first noted Czech puppeteer was Jan Jiri Brat, who was born in 1724. He was the son of a local carpenter and created his own puppet theatre. Matej Kopecky was the most famous 19th-century Czech puppeteer, and was responsible for communicating the ideas of national awareness.