July 2008 - Travel Stripe

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Travel Stripe - July 2008

Great landmarks of Prague; Prague Castle

July 31st 2008 08:58

Prague Castle from across the Vltava

If not its most famous landmark, Prague Castle is certainly the Czech capital’s most eye-catching and impressive. Set on a commanding hilltop overlooking the Vltava River, it dominates the city skyline. The castle’s1100 year history is closely linked to the long and fascinating story of the evolution of the Czech Republic. It is also a monument to a thousand years of magnificent European architecture.

A corner of Prague Castle

The original castle was commissioned by Borivoj first King of the Premyslids, the Czech Republic's founding dynasty. Constructed entirely from timber and fortified with earthen ramparts, it included a palace, three churches and monastery. Its area, according to archeologists, was equal to today’s castle complex.

St Vitus Cathedral, Prague Castle

As it passed down through the centuries and through successive dynasties, Prague Castle was reconstructed, re-modelled or renovated in the style of the time and with stamp of the current ruler.

A Romanesque corner of Prague Castle

In the 13th century King Wenceslas rebuilt it in the Romanesque style.

The inner courtyard at Prague Castle

Charles IV, of the Luxembourg Dynasty, transformed it into a Gothic castle in the 14th century.

Prague Castle gates

Under King Vladislav of the 15th century Jagiello line, it was Neo Gothic.

The fountain at Prague Castle

In 1541 the castle was almost razed by fire. The Hapsburgh Emperor Rudolph II, brought it back to life as a Renaissance castle, a centre of Science and scholarship and a showcase for the arts.

The main courtyard at Prague Castle

In the late 18th century, under the Hapsburg Empress Maria Theresa, it was re-born as a Baroque castle and has remained so ever since.

The home of the Czech President

Since 1918, Prague Castle has been the official residence of the Presidents of the Czech Republic. Although re-construction has been necessary to repair and maintain the castle over the years, no ruling power, since the demise of the great dynasties, has been moved to take it through another iteration, or to mark it, at least not indelibly with their stamp.

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Modern Prague

July 29th 2008 09:33

The Old Town Square at noon

It is an early summer evening. The sinking sun lights up the ornate and richly varied facades of the buildings that edge the Old Town Square. Towers and spires rise out of the shadows behind them. Restless tribes of young travellers mill around the Staropramen beer tents. From café terraces their richer, staider and soberer elders, look on. A giant screen flashes European Cup Football hype. On a central platform, a brand new Hyundai sits gleaming like a golden calf. A boy buzzes back and forth on a scooter emblazoned with “Darling’s” in hot pink letters. A matching stretch limo with tinted windows hovers in a side street nearby. The corner the clock strikes 9. All heads turn. Tour groups crowd underneath and gaze up at the magical workings of its face. There’s a kind of hush. It is filled with crescendo of classical music from a nearby church. A languid, six foot blonde goddess strolls by, her golden-brown arms hung with shopping bags – Paul Smith, Prada and Agnes B.

Baroque Prague

This is Prague today, one of the most beautiful and vibrant cities in the world and one of its most popular tourist destinations.

Looking down the Vltava River to the Charles Bridge

After a grim spell behind the Iron Curtain and short term of recovery, Prague is back, where historically as well as geographically, it belongs, at the centre of Europe, at the crossroads of old trade and travel routes. It is part of the European Union. Football fever has taken hold. While the Czech currency, the korun, lives out its last days, global businesses and brands have already colonised its commercial sector. H&M, M&S and Benetton fly their flags from grand old shop fronts. Tesco’s lurk in their basements. Gucci, Versace and Chanel boutiques have settled the art nouveau arcades. Consumerism thrives in this new age Prague and its people, clearly, love to shop.

The House of H&M Prague

Czechs love a good time too and Prague night life is legendary. With some of the best and cheapest beer in Europe, with an unbelievable number and variety of bars and clubs which seem to be open all hours and with a laissez faire attitude to “fun” and “entertainment”, the city enjoys a reputation as one of Europe’s great party places.

A summer evening in the Square of Stare Mesto

Blessed with a multitude of spectacular churches and synagogues, Prague is sometimes called the city of spires. Yet, the Czech Republic is one of the most atheistic countries in the world. Considering the religious dissent which had it tied up for centuries this is not surprising. While some churches still fulfill their religious purpose, others have become the stage for concerts and recitals. For centuries a hub of European culture, modern Prague is renowned for its wonderful classical music.

A concert in a church in Mala Strana

Architecturally, Prague is breathtaking. Dreamed up by a succession of rich, powerful dynasties, with the artistic genius of the known world at their disposal, the city is a wonderland of beautiful, historic buildings. Romanesque, Mediaeval, Renaissance, Baroque, Neo-Renaissance, Art Nouveau, Art Deco, Cubist and Modern Functionalist - every age and every architectural expression, with its own unique Czech twist of course, is here. Furthermore, unlike many other European and British cities, old Prague is mercifully intact and comparatively unscathed by war, industrialisation and insensitive modernisation.

A building in Stare Mesto

It is the architecture of old Prague and the history that it embodies, that draws most people here. It is landmarks like the astrological clock and the buildings of Stare Mesto, the synagogues and the cemetery of the Jewish quarter, the Charles Bridge and the magnificent Castle that make Prague unforgettable.

The astrological clock

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Prague, the mother of all cities; Part VIII, the Communist era

July 17th 2008 03:38

After World War II Prague became the capital of Czechoslovakia once again. But it was very different city from the pre-war Prague.

The Jewish community had been decimated. The ethnic German population had all but vanished. Many had fled with fall of Nazism. Unknown numbers and been killed in local massacres. The rest had been deported. A strong pro-Russian sentiment prevailed. Although the Red Army had withdrawn soon after the war Czechoslovakia felt deeply indebted to its liberators and the country remained under strong Soviet influence. In February, 1948, Prague became the centre of a Communist coup.

Motif on a post war building on Myslikova, Prague

Following the coup and the establishment of the totalitarian Communist regime, new settlers surged into Prague. Huge, utilitarian residential complexes sprang up at the edges of the city, like dark, grim sentinels encircling the beautiful Romanesque, renaissance and baroque architecture of the ancient towns. The coal burnt to fuel the swelling metropolis and its industries corroded and blackened the facades of the old buildings and turned Prague into a dark, forbidding place. Nothing was done to arrest the pollution of the city and efforts to repair and maintain its buildings were slow and eventually ineffectual. Wenceslas Square was covered in scaffolding for a decade but none of the promised repairs were completed.

The blackened facade of the National Theatre

By the 1960s, discontent was festering in Czechoslovakia, particularly among the intellectual community of Prague. The 4th Czechoslovakian Writer’s Congress in 1967 gave voice to their dissatisfaction. This gave birth to Prague Spring, when Alexander Dubcek, the new secretary of the Communist Party, announced a fresh phase in the life of Czechoslovakia; the democratic reform of its institutions and the beginning of “socialism with a human face”. In August 1968 Soviet tanks rolled into Czechoslavakia and crushed the budding democratic movement. A period of communist normalisation followed. Prague stagnated and as magnificent, historic architecture crumbled from pollution and neglect, cheap, shoddy, modern buildings invaded the cityscape.

Beautifully restored Prague

In November, 1989, the Berlin Wall fell and the Velvet Revolution swept Prague into another new era. In 1993, after the division of Czechoslovakia, it became the capital of the new Czech Republic, comprising the Prague Region and the Central Bohemian Region.

Since 1989, Prague’s architecture has blossomed again. Most of the city has been restored or re-built now. Historic buildings are continuously maintained and the city’s conversion to electric heating ensures them a future free from the devastations of coal pollution. The old town is now a Unesco heritage listed site, preserved forever for posterity. World-famous architects, too, like Frank O. Gehry, Jean Nouvel, Eva Jiricna, and Ricardo Bofill have added their modern masterpieces to the cityscape and earned it a place on 20th and 21st century sarchitectural stage.

But still, out in the suburbs spawned by the industrial revolution and the post-war boom, the looming grim, run-down and strangely lifeless looking residences of the Communist era, still cast cast long, dark shadows down mean streets, across cracked concrete and over patchy grass.

And really it is to old Prague that today's city owes its reputation as one of the most beautiful and most visited in the world. It is inner city Prague which has fulfilled the promise of the first Premyslid Princess Libuse “It will honoured, favoured with great repute and praise will be bestowed upon it by the entire world”

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Prague, the mother of all cities. Part VII, The first half of the 20th century

July 15th 2008 00:21

In the last third of the 19th century and the first decade of the 20th century were a time of great growth and prosperity for Prague. As part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire the city was transforming into a large modern European metropolis. The peaceful co-existence of Jews, Germans and Czechs contributed to an environment where both industry and culture flourished. Businesses and factories sprang up, along with grand streets, beautiful arcades and elegant hotels. The suburbs burgeoned. The Fine Arts flourished and artists like pre-Raphaelite painter Mucha, became leaders in a world-wide movement. While many of the new buildings followed the Art Nouveau style of the Parisian Belle Epoque which was colonising European cities, an original Czech Cubist architecture was emerging too.

Art Nouveau building on the embankment

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Prague, the mother of all cities; Part VI, the 18th and 19th centuries

July 10th 2008 03:59

The 18th century
The aftermath of the Thirty years war was a bleak and troubled period for Prague. Although the Peace of Westphalia had officially ended the war, the Holy Roman Empire was weakened and the power of the Habsburghs diminished. Foreign powers continued to meddle in, occupy and besiege Prague until the end of the 17th century and well into the 18th. In 1689, a fire, said to have been started by French agents, raged through the city and destroyed much of it. Still, Bohemia was beginning to recover. A promising economic climate attracted a new influx of migrants. Restoration of the city began. New and reconstructed buildings in the contemporary Baroque style added flamboyant, novel features and accents to Mediaeval and Renaissance Prague. The Empress Maria Theresa’s Baroque additions to Prague Castle are an example.

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Prague, the mother of all cities; Part V, The Habsburgh Dynasty

July 8th 2008 01:49

When Ferdinand Habsburgh inherited the Bohemian throne, he moved the seat of power to Austria, where he reigned as Emperor. Prague, once the leading light of the Holy Roman Empire now became a mere outpost. However, Ferdinand spent considerable time here and invested a great deal in the city.. He brought the Renaissance way of life to the court and made several important additions to the Castle grounds. In 1534 he converted the vineyards which covered the surrounding hillsides into a beautiful Italianate garden. Designed by Giovanni Spatia it was filled with Mediterranean plants and trees such as oranges, lemons and the figs which still grow there today. Europe’s first tulips, brought from Turkey in 1554, were grown in the Royal Palace Garden. In 1563, Ferdinand completed the Royal Summer Residence for his wife Ann Jagellon, Sister of the previous King, Vladislav the Posthumous. The unique Renaissance building with its Gothic roof was designed by Paolo della Stella and Bonifac Wohlmut. The spectacular Singing Fountain in front of the residence was built in 1568. Ferdinand also established the Lion Court, where he housed a collection of exotic animals.

The Palace Garden

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Prague, the mother of all cities. Part 4 Dissent, Defenestration and the Hussite War.

July 6th 2008 11:04

With the death of Charles IV in 1378 and the accession of his son Wenceslas IV, the Prague’s golden age ended. There followed a period of religious dissent, civil war and unstable sovereignty where the great and glorious city of Prague foundered.

Prague Castle Square

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Prague, the mother of all cities; Part 3, The Golden Age of Charles IV

July 4th 2008 08:24

By the beginning of the 14th century Prague was already a hub of European commerce and a centre of rich and diverse cultures. Bohemia was the most powerful state in the Holy Roman Empire. With the renaissance sweeping through Europe and enlightened and visionary king in the making, Prague was poised for its first “Golden Age”.

The outer courtyard of Prague Castle

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Prague, the mother of all cities, Part 2; Mediaeval Prague and the Premyslid Dynasty

July 1st 2008 07:47

In the decade of 880 to 890, Bohemia became the permanent seat of the ruling Premyslid princes. According to legend, the dynasty was founded on the marriage of the sovereign Princess Libuse and the humble ploughman Premysil. The royal castle was said to have been in central Bohemia and 7th century ruins in the region support the story. It was from this castle apparently, that the legendary princess, famed for her visions, foresaw the glorious future city of Prague “I see a vast city, whose glory will touch the stars! I see a place in the middle of a forest where a steep cliff arises above the Vltava River. There is a man who is chiselling the threshold (prah) for a house. A castle named Prague (prah) will be built there. Just as the princes and the dukes stoop in front of a threshold, they will bow to the castle and to the city around it. It will be honoured, favoured with great repute and praise will be bestowed upon it by the whole world”