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| St. Vitus Cathedral at Prague Castle |
Our last stop on our cruise wasn't a cruise -- rather it was a land extension to Prague, Czech Republic. This was my third time in Prague.
Prague is the capital and largest
city in the Czech Republic, the 14th largest city in the European Union and the
historical capital of Bohemia. And, I believe it is one of the prettiest cities
I have ever seen.
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| Prague |
Unfortunately, on this trip, rain and fog dimmed the beauty a
bit – even if the weather occasionally offered some drama.
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| Prague |
The actual name of the city is Praha,
which is from an old Slavic word, práh, that means "ford" or
"rapids," referring to the city's origin at a crossing point of the
Vltava river.
Situated in northwest Czech
Republic on the Vltava river, Prague has a population of 1.4 million and a
metro population of 2.2 million. As with everywhere we visited on this trip, we
spent most of our time in the older parts – and, admittedly, the touristy parts
– of the city. We never really get a sense of the entire city when we visit.
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| Prague |
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| Our hotel |
We went to Prague on a Viking
extension. When we booked, the hotel where we were going to stay was in
the middle of the areas we wanted to visit. Shortly before we departed,
Viking changed us to the Corinthia Hotel. Nice, but not near anything. They had
a free shuttle to Old Town, but it made it more difficult to get out and
explore – especially with dicey weather and cobblestone streets that are rough
on old knees and feet.
It was a five-hour bus trip from
Nuremberg to Prague. Foggy at first, but eventually opening up into some
pretty rolling hills and farmland.
We had one wildlife sighting – five deer very far away in a field.
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| Charles IV |
When we first arrived, we were given a “walking tour” from the hotel -- which, as I said before, wasn't really near anything. The tour was basically a guide giving us some foundational information -- breakfast time, shuttle time, tour details -- while shouting over traffic noise (and often not loud enough and not being heard).
We walked across a pedestrian bridge but actually went nowhere. I am sure the “walking tour” would work had our hotel been close to anywhere. But, this was silly. We would have been better off to have a briefing in the hotel.
So, a little more about Prague – which we did tour later and then returned to on our own. Since we repeated locations, I’ll just talk about where we went and what we saw without making any attempt to be chronological.
Founded during the Romanesque era
and flourishing by the Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque eras, Prague was the
capital of the kingdom of Bohemia and the main residence of several Holy Roman
Emperors, most notably of Charles IV (1346-1378).
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| Prague |
Charles has lots of things
named after him. For example, the Charles Bridge.
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| Charles Bridge; Photo: Scott Stevens |
Prague was an important city to
the Habsburg Monarchy and the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The city played major
roles in the Bohemian and Protestant Reformation, the Thirty Years' War and in
20th-century history as the capital of Czechoslovakia, during both World Wars
and the post-war Communist era.
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| Bones in St. George's Basilica |
The region was settled as early
as the Paleolithic age. Around the 5th and 4th Centuries BC, the Celts appeared
in the area, later establishing settlements and naming the area Bohemia,
"home of the Boii." In the last century BC, the Celts were driven
away by Germanic tribes.
In the late 5th Century, during
the great Migration Period following the collapse of the Western Roman Empire,
the Germanic tribes living in Bohemia moved westwards.
In the 6th Century,
Slavic tribes settled the area. In the following century, the Czech tribes
built several fortified settlements in the area.
During our visit, we spent a fair
amount of time at Prague Castle, a castle complex dating from the 9th century.
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| St. Vitus Cathedral at Prague Castle |
Now
the seat of the official office of the President of the Czech Republic, it was
a seat of power for kings of Bohemia, Holy Roman emperors and presidents of
Czechoslovakia. The Bohemian Crown Jewels are kept within a hidden room inside
it. Prague Castle is the largest ancient castle in the world, occupying an area
of almost 750,000 square feet.
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| St. Vitus Cathedral at Prague Castle |
The first walled building, the
Church of the Virgin Mary, was built in 870. The Basilica of Saint George and
the Basilica of St. Vitus were founded in the first half of the 10th century. The
first convent in Bohemia was founded in the castle, next to the church of St.
George. A Romanesque palace was erected there during the 12th century.
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| Prague Castle guards |
Prague Castle is dominated by St.
Vitus Cathedral, which looks quite old, but isn’t. It was actually initiated by
Charles IV in 1344 when he rebuilt the royal palace in the Gothic style and strengthened
the castle fortifications. But, it wasn’t completed until 1929.
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| St. Vitus Cathedral flying buttresses |
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| Prague Castle courtyard |
A fire in 1541 destroyed large
parts of the castle. Under the Habsburgs, some new Renaissance-style buildings were added. Rudolph II used Prague Castle as his main residence and built the northern wing, with the Spanish Hall, for his art collections.
In the 1600s, the Castle was
damaged and dilapidated. Many works from the collection of Rudolph II were
looted by Swedes in 1648, in the Battle of Prague that ended the Thirty Years'
War.
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| St. Vitus Cathedral gargoyles |
The last major rebuilding of the
castle was carried out by Empress Maria Theresa in the second half of the 18th century.
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| St. Vitus Cathedral interior |
The castle buildings represent
virtually every architectural style of the last millennium. Prague Castle
includes Gothic St. Vitus Cathedral, Romanesque Basilica of St. George, a
monastery and several palaces, gardens and defense towers.
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| Multiple styles collide |
While admission to the castle
grounds and cathedral is free, most of the other buildings require a fee. We
visited Vladislav Hall of the Old Royal Palace ...
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| Vladislav Hall of the Old Royal Palace |
St. George's Basilica ...
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| St. George's Basilica |
and the
Golden Lane, a narrow lane lined with medieval buildings and exhibits ...
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| Golden Lane |
including
representations of living conditions ...
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| Golden Lane exhibit |
and an extensive collection of armor ...
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| Prague Castle armor |
weapons ...
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| Ancient sword |
and instruments of torture ....
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| Torture exhibit |
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| Eve and Adam at St. George's |
We learned
a few things:
Many churches have two
towers that initially appear identical, but are actually different sizes. The larger represents “Adam” and the smaller, “Eve.” We saw
this a St. George’s and, in Old Town Square, at the Týn Church.
The clock on St. Vitus Cathedral
reflects an old style in which the top clock tells the hours and the lower
clock the minutes.
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| The two clocks -- hours and minutes -- on St. Vitus Cathedral |
The castle area used to house the
famous Spanish Riding School, home of the Lipizzaner Stallions. But, they were
moved to Vienna when the Habsburgs established their primary residences there.
One day, we ate lunch in a small
café in the castle complex. Great baguette sandwiches and really yummy goulash
in a bread bowl. Nice on a chilly, wet day.
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| Craig, Cheri, Janet and Scott at Prague Castle |
The castle also provides great
views of Prague – from the castle gardens ...
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| Prague Castle gardens |
to the beautiful buildings (many of
them lovely homes) outside the walls ...
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| View from Prague Castle |
to the impressive St. Nicholas Cathedral (one of two in Prague) ...
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| St. Nicholas from Prague Castle |
Prague was an important seat for
trading where merchants from all of Europe settled, including many Jews. The
Old New Synagogue of 1270 still stands.
At the site of the ford in the Vltava
river, King Vladislaus I built the Judith Bridge, named after his wife and the
first bridge across the broad river, in 1170. It was destroyed by a flood in
1342, but some of the original foundation stones of that bridge remain.
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| Beautiful building details |
In 1257, the Germanic Malá Strana ("Lesser Quarter") was founded in Prague on the site of an older village in what would become the Hradčany (Prague Castle) area.
During the 14th
Century, Charles IV transformed Prague into an imperial capital. It was the
third-largest city in Europe after Rome and Constantinople.
Charles built New
Town (Nové Město) adjacent to the Old Town and the Charles Bridge to replace
the Judith Bridge.
Charles laid the first foundation stone for the bridge at
exactly 5:31 a.m. on July 9, 1357, to create the palindromic number 135797531,
which is carved into the Old Town bridge tower. The bridge was completed in
1402.
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| Charles Bridge |
Charles also founded Charles University, which remains the oldest
university in Central Europe.
During the reign of Charles’ son,
King Wenceslaus IV (1378--1419), the environment of peace and prosperity
deteriorated. In 1389, the Prague clergy encouraged mobs to pillage, ransack
and burn the Jewish quarter. Nearly the entire Jewish population of Prague
(3,000 people) died.
Four years later, Prague
experienced its first defenestration (to be killed by being thrown out a window) – a method of assassination for which the
city is famous. This is one of the windows where that happened.
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| The scene of the crime |
In the following two centuries,
Prague strengthened its role as a merchant city. Many noteworthy Gothic
buildings were erected and Vladislav Hall of the Prague Castle was added.
In the 1500s, the Habsburg’s fervent Catholicism brought them into conflict with Bohemia, where Protestant ideas were gaining popularity.
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| Prague building façade |
Still, Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II,
elected King of Bohemia in 1576, chose Prague as his home and lived in the
Prague Castle, where his court welcomed astrologers, magicians, scientists,
musicians and artists. Prague soon became the capital of European culture.
In 1618, another defenestration provoked
the Thirty Years' War and Prague began a decline that reduced the population
from the 60,000 to 20,000. In the second half of the 17th century Prague's
population began to grow again.
In 1689, a fire that devastated
Prague spurred renovation and a rebuilding. In 1713-14, a major outbreak of
plague hit Prague one last time, killing almost 13,000 people.
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| Gladiator statue on Palace gates |
In 1744, Frederick the Great of
Prussia invaded Bohemia and took Prague after prolonged bombardment that
destroyed more than a quarter of the city and heavily damaged the then-standing
St. Vitus Cathedral. Still, Frederick the Great eventually lost and had to
retreat from Bohemia.
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| Kampa Island |
Prague's economic rise continued
through the 18th century.
The city was filled with rich merchants and
nobles who built palaces, churches and gardens full of art and music, creating
a Baroque style renowned throughout the world.
In 1784, Malá Strana, Nové Město,
Staré Město and Hradčany merged into a single municipality. The Jewish
district, called Josefov, was added in 1850. By the mid-1800s, the population
exceeded 100,000.
The Czech National Revival gained
the majority in the town council in 1861. Prague had a German-speaking majority
in 1848, but by 1910 it was reduced to only to 6.7 percent, due to an influx of
Czechs from the rest of Bohemia and Moravia.
World War I ended with the defeat
of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the creation of Czechoslovakia. Prague was
chosen as its capital and Prague Castle as the seat of president Tomáš Masaryk.
By 1930, the population had risen to 850,000.
Nazi Germany occupied Czechoslovakia is 1939 and most Jews were deported or killed by the Germans.
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| Old Town building |
Although Prague suffered several U.S. bombing raids, most historic
structures escaped damage. Some say that was a result of a navigational error.
Now, Prague contains one of the world's most
pristine and varied collections of architecture, including Romanesque, Gothic,
Renaissance, Baroque, Rococo, Neo-Renaissance, Neo-Gothic, Art Nouveau, Cubist,
Neo-Classical and ultra-modern.
That’s a major reason Prague is such a beautiful city today.
In 1945, the Red Army “liberated”
the city and the majority (about 50,000 people) of the German population either
fled or were expelled.
Prague was then under communist Soviet rule, which proved
to be a very difficult time filed with conflicts and protests. In
1967, a student demonstration spurred the "Prague Spring" aimed at renovating
institutions democratically. The other Warsaw Pact member countries, except
Romania and Albania, reacted by invading Czechoslovakia, suppressing any
attempt at reform.
In 1989, there was a non-violent
transition from the one-party Communist Party of Czechoslovakia to a
parliamentary republic. After this “Velvet Revolution,” barbed wire and other
obstructions were removed from the border with West Germany and Austria and the
first largely non-communist government in Czechoslovakia was appointed.
In 1993, Czechoslovakia was split
into the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Prague became the capital city of the
Czech Republic.
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| Old Town Square |
We also spent a fair amount of
time in the Old Town Square – which was by far the most crowded tourist area of
our entire trip – sometimes more crowded than I found comfortable. It was
filled with those street artists that pose for donations. I just don’t get it –
and I always suspect it’s a set-up for pickpockets. But, occasionally, there is also some good entertainment.
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| Street musician |
The area has some beautiful
sights. The Church of Mother of God before Týn (also called the Church of Our
Lady before Týn), is a gothic church with 260-ft.-high towers (notice one
“Eve” and one “Adam”) topped by four small spires. I walked completely around
the block looking for the entrance only to find that you get in via a small
alley in a shopping area – an example of the city growing around the church. Týn Church was built in 14th and 15th Centuries
in the late Gothic style. Renovation works carried out in 1876-1895 were later
reversed during extensive exterior renovation works in 1973-1995. Interior
renovation is still in progress.
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| The Church of Mother of God before Týn |
The first evening we were in the
square, I ducked into a church – the very Baroque St. Nicholas Church, which
was built in the mid-1700s – just to see the interior. I discovered that a
concert was just getting ready to begin. So, we bought tickets.
The pipe organ and trumpet
concert was a bit odd because we were in pews facing the altar and the
chandelier, but the performers were behind and above us in the pipe organ
balcony. We couldn’t see anything but we could hear. And, it was so wonderful.
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| St. Nicholas Church |
Speaking of chandeliers – there is a small one and a large one. The latter was donated by the Russian Czar when the church was Russian
Orthodox in the late 1870s. The big chandelier was made by the famous Garrahovskoy
glass manufactory in Bohemia and is in the form of the imperial crown. It is
about 14 ft. in diameter and weighs 1.5 tons.
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| Crystal chandelier in St. Nicholas Church |
In 1901, a building in front of the church was
demolished to make the façade visible to the rest of the Old Town Square.
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| St. Nicholas façade |
During the World War II, Czech
army units stationed at St. Nicholas worked with professional artists to
restore the church. After the war, St. Nicholas was handed over to the Czech
Hussite movement, with which it remains. It isn’t currently used as a church,
but rather as a concert hall.
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| St. Nicholas Church |
While we were there, we ate two meals in or near the square. One at an Italian restaurant on the square and one in a Czech place name for the Czech Republic’s most famous beer – Pilsner Urquell.
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| Restaurant sign |
I had something really simple and tasty: a crock of small boiled potatoes served with chive cream cheese and a dish of hot milk.
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| Boiled potatoes for lunch! |
I didn’t have much use for the milk. Was I
supposed to make mashed potatoes? Give it to a cat?
But, oh, the potatoes with cream cheese were
tasty. And, the cider I had with it was also very good.
Throughout the square, we saw
lots of vendors selling Trdelník, traditional Czech pastries made of dough
spiraled around a wooden dowel and cooked over a charcoal fire and dusted with
cinnamon sugar (and sometimes walnuts). The current rage is to serve them
filled with ice cream. We never got around to having any. More regrets.
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| Trdelník roasting |
We also saw some heartier fare, including this roasting meat.
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| Street food |
Mounted on the southern wall of Old Town Hall in the Old
Town Square is the famous astronomical clock.
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| Building draped for renovation |
We almost missed it
because it was around the corner and the building was draped for renovation.
They kindly left the clock undraped, however (although the calendar was just a
printed representation because the actual piece is being renovated).
We could
have waited for the clock to chime, but we were tired and hungry (and Scott and I had
seen it before). So, we didn’t brave the massive crowd this time.
The clock mechanism itself has three main components: the
astronomical dial, representing the position of the Sun and Moon in the sky and
displaying various astronomical details; an hourly show of moving sculptures;
and a calendar dial with medallions representing the months. The astronomical
dial has a background that represents the standing Earth and sky, and
surrounding it operate four main moving components: the zodiacal ring, an outer
rotating ring, an icon representing the Sun and an icon representing the Moon.
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Astronomical clock
|
The background represents the Earth and the local view of
the sky.
The blue circle in the center represents the Earth, and the
upper blue is the portion of the sky that is above the horizon.
The red and
black areas indicate portions of the sky below the horizon.
During the daytime,
the Sun sits over the blue part of the background.
At night it sits over the
black.
During dawn or dusk, the mechanical sun is positioned over the red part
of the background.
Golden Roman numerals at the outer edge of blue circle are
the timescale of a normal 24-hour day and indicate time in local Prague time.
Inside the large black outer circle lies another movable
circle marked with the signs of the zodiac which indicates the location of the
Sun on the ecliptic.
The oldest part of the mechanical clock and astronomical
dial dates back to 1410. Later, presumably around 1490, the calendar dial was
added and the clock facade was decorated with gothic sculptures. In 1629 or
1659, wooden statues were added, and figures of the Apostles were added after a
major repair in 1787-1791. During the next major repair in the years 1865—1866,
a golden figure of a crowing rooster was added.
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| Clock detail |
Let’s talk about some other
lovely – and interesting – things we saw in Prague.
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| Our Lady Victorious |
I took a quick detour to the Our
Lady Victorious Church that I had visited the last time I was in Prague. We had about 30 minutes to explore during a break in our tour (once again, I think the expectation was that we would shop). So, I had to really rush to find the church four blocks away.
The church is
famous for its circa 1628 wax baby Jesus statuette (Infant Jesus of Prague), originally
from Spain.
The wax baby Jesus has two crowns and about 46 robes. His
vestments are traditionally changed about ten times a year according to the
liturgical season.
The last time we were there, I visited a small museum
displaying many of the vast array of beautiful robes made over the years. This time, I couldn’t find it and, after I toured the church, I had only a
few minutes left look. So, no robes – just the church and the
baby.
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| Our Lady Victorious Church |
The early Baroque building, dating back to 1611, was rebuilt from 1634 to
1669 by the Carmelite order.
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| Our Lady Victorious Church statues |
We toured the Charles Bridge (Karlův Most), which was also extremely crowded.
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| Charles Bridge |
The Charles Bridge was the only way
to cross the Vltava until 1841 (439 years!!!), making it the most important
connection between Prague Castle and Old Town and establishing Prague as a
trade route between Eastern and Western Europe. Originally called Stone Bridge or
Prague Bridge, it took its current name in 1870.
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| Charles Bridge Tower ceiling on the Old Town side; the center has a crown motif |
The bridge is 2,037 ft. long and nearly 33 ft. wide, and, like the Stone Bridge in Regensburg, it was built as a bow bridge with 16 arches shielded by ice guards.
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| Charles Bridge Tower |
It is protected by three bridge towers, two of them on the Lesser Quarter side and the third one on the Old Town side.
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| Saint John of Nepomuk statue |
The bridge is decorated by 30 statues, most Baroque-style, originally erected in the late 1600s and early 1700s. Beginning in 1965, all the statues have been systematically replaced by replicas. The originals are exhibited in the Lapidarium of the National Museum.
Most are black
from constant exposure to pollutants, but many are being meticulously cleaned.
Somehow, when they are freshly cleaned, the just look out of place.
In its 615 years of service, the bridge
has been damaged by multiple floods, erosion and cannon fire and has been
decorated with severed heads following battle. All vehicular traffic has been
excluded from Charles Bridge since the late 60s.
Right below the Charles Bridge is Kampa Island, a beautiful and very peaceful area with walkways, restaurants and some very beautiful bridges. Although it is right next to (actually below) the Lesser Quarter, it seems a world apart.
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| Kampa Island |
Kampa island is also the location of the the famous John Lennon Wall, which since the 1980s it has been filled with John
Lennon-inspired graffiti and pieces of lyrics from Beatles' songs. It started
when young anti-communist Czechs would post grievances and statements of peace (a
movement described ironically as "Lennonism").
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| John Lennon Wall |
The wall continuously changes
as new graffiti is added and an original portrait of Lennon is buried under
layers of paint. On the 25th anniversary of the Velvet Revolution, the wall was
painted over in pure white by a group of art students, leaving only the statement,
"Wall is Over." Since then,
the wall is once again vibrantly decorated and "Wall is Over" has
been changed to "War is Over."
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| John Lennon Wall |
On Kampa, I did grab some shots
of actual birds … a Western Jackdaw and a Great Tit …
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| Left, Western Jackdaw; Photo: Scott Stevens; Middle and right, Great Tit |
And, there were dozens of Mute
Swans …
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| Mute Swan |
And, we saw some truly weird art
-- three giant crawling babies with barcode faces guard the entrance to Kampa
museum. Until recently, more of these statues could be found crawling up the
Zizkov TV Tower in Prague.
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| Giant babies |
They are the work of David Cerny, who has
quite a few controversial installments throughput the city. The babies are climbing
the sides of the television tower were “a symbol of the communist era, unable
to reach adulthood, their growth stifled by this landmark (the tower) of
totalitarian rule.” The ones on the tower were taken down for restoration and
repairs.
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| The Iron Knight |
Near Prague’s New City Hall is another
interesting statue, the “Iron Knight” by Ladislav Šaloun. It looks a lot
like Darth Vadar. In fact, some people think this statue inspired Vadar's outfit.
The statue memorializes the knight Jáchym Berka, who often let jealous rage get the best of him. The story is that Berka was engaged to be married to a sweet young
woman but, when he returned from battle, he heard false rumors that she had
been unfaithful. In his rage, he stabbed her to death. With her last breath, she
cursed him and he turned into stone.
It is said he can be freed from the curse,
but only once every hundred years if a virgin pure of heart takes pity on him
and gives him a kiss. The statue is supposed to be a morality lesson to remind people to be kind and not let anger lead them to rash actions.
Right around the corner is a very
different statue, a contemporary statue of a young girl, called the “little
Reader,” sitting on an old building ledge. Our guide said that it was an art
student’s entry in a university art competition. It is really quite lovely.
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| The Little Reader |
As is a statue of a tree (another student's work) just down the alley.
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| Tree statue |
In Kampa Park, 34 penguin statues
made of recycled plastic bottles stand in line along the bank of the river Vltava.
They are the work of the Cracking Art Group, a group of six international
artists whose work addresses the dangers of climate change and the need for
society to take positive action to protect the environment.
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| Kampa Park penguins; Photo: Scott Stevens |
And, I was particularly taken by
the Prague City Insurance Building with its gorgeous mural and statue of a
firefighter saving a woman from a fire.
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| Look at the firefighter on the left |
We saw several building signs – including the blue pike ...
While in Prague, we attended the
opera at the lovely Prague Opera House. From the opera’s name, “The Cunning Little Vixen,” we expected a flirtatious operetta.
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| Prague Opera House |
But, it was an
allegory (that I didn’t quite get) about an actual fox that was based on a
series of political cartoons that ran in the Prague newspaper in the 1920s.
Not my cup of tea. But, it was fun to visit the
opera house – and it wasn’t as tragic or long as a Wagner opera!
Our seats at the opera were in the front row of the balcony and, I must say, the drop off was steep -- very steep. I am not afraid of heights, but I had to hold my breath to walk to my seat.
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| Left, ceiling chandelier; Right, view to the orchestra |
On our final night, it was more entertainment -- this a little rowdier than the opera.
We went to a folklore dinner in the countryside (actually a suburb) right outside of Prague.
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| Czech dancers |
It was petty much what you would expect. Reasonably good, but not great, traditional foods, singing and dancing and rather mediocre wine. there was, of course, also beer. The Czech Republic is very proud of its beer.
Still, it was a fun way to finish up a trip.
Prague was our last stop on our
quick tour of Europe. While we had weather challenges and I felt that we just
didn’t have enough time anywhere, it was a lovely visit. I got to revisit some
of my favorite places and was introduced to some new ones. Plus, we had a great
time with Craig and Cheri.
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| Craig and Cheri in Prague; Photo: Scott Stevens |
I am not sure the Viking Cruise
experience is right for me. But, I might be willing to give it another try in
warmer weather. I would love to return to Bavaria and the Wachau Valley.
And, I did get some nice photos ...
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| How I usually look on a trip; photo by Scott Stevens |
Trip date: October 25-November 7, 2017
