BOHEMIA

Prague (Praha)  -  The Czech Republic

Post 2

 A world of Art & Entertainment

As we walked around the streets of Prague, we found endless art and entertainment in many forms. One could easily spend two whole weeks just looking at the plethora of churches/cathedrals and religious art......at times that alone becomes overwhelming (I will have a special post just on that topic later). I was constantly stopping to snap photos of architectural whimsies (those fun embellishments added to buildings such as statues, animals, organic images, etc.), as well as a wide variety of street performers. Here are some photos and movies of some of the fun stuff we found:
(click on photos to enlarge)

 Don't ask us because we don't know what this is supposed to be either.

 We came upon this guy while walking over the Vltava River on the Charles Bridge (more on this famous bridge later). He was just standing there, we expect, to have people come up to take their picture with him. Not exactly the warm cuddly guy you want to snuggle up to. OUCH! Very peculiar indeed.

 Whimsical stone face on the arch over a doorway. Reminds me of Jr. Bird Man.

 Nice kitty-cat gargoyle at the crest of a roof

 Pagan masks on the side of a building. Prague has an interesting Pagan history: http://www.36hoursinprague.com/paganism-emerging-as-a-popular-religion-in-prague/

Big Silver Naked Pregnant Lady:

This metal sculpture is found at the Y of a very busy street (funny). When walking up to it from the side, it is hard to tell what it is supposed to be. It is only when you get about a block away you realize it is a very large naked pregnant lady on her knees.  It stands roughly 20 feet tall. She is hollow inside so you are free to climb inside to experience what it may be like to be “inside a womb”. I can imagine cars driving by seeing people come out of her behind! I wonder how many car accidents there are at this junction :o)

Liechtenstein Palace, Malostranské Square: In front of the palace, there are 27 cast iron columns with reliefs of male heads by Karel Nepraš fitted into the cobblestones. These commemorate 27 men who were condemned to death by Karel of Liechtenstein and mercilessly executed on the Old Town Square in 1621. They look like an example of art from the communist era. Each column is different. Go here to see detail of each: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:27_nobles_of_Bohemia_by_Karel_Nepra%C5%A1

Column detail

Marionette and Puppet Making 

 

The art of Czech marionette and puppet making goes back to the 18th century. The figures are traditionally hand carved from wood or made from plaster. They represent all kinds of characters from devils, witches and wizards to clowns, kings and princesses.  Many of these beautiful, elaborately carved Czech marionettes are highly prized works of art. This shop we stepped into represents only a hand full of local Czech marionette carvers. Some of the puppets are over 4 feet tall. 

Marionette theatre (puppet theatre) enjoys a long tradition in popular entertainment in Prague and around the Czech Republic. There are a number of marionette theatres found around Prague. The photo above is a little art piece above the entrance to one of these theatres we passed by.

Typical performances include puppet versions of Mozart's famous "opera of operas", Don Giovanni, and the enchanting story of the Magic Flute. These productions feature very tall puppets clothed in period costumes, set against 18th century stage sets. In Marionette Theatre the story is recounted visually, with little or no spoken words, so there is no language barrier for the multicultural audiences these productions draw.

Me and that liar, Pinocchio.....oops! Did I just tell a fib? :o)

I took this wonderful video of a man giving a little puppet show on the Charles Bridge. You can see how talented these puppeteers are at their craft.

Back to some architecture, and the art of looking up.......... 

You will find these neoclassic/art nouveau stone figures, always in pairs, holding up many window balcony's and doorway entrances all over Prague. The artistry is just amazing. I have included three of my favorites here. Where has this artistic romance gone in the public art of today?

 

My favorite pair seem to depict two African men

The Grotto (Dripstone Wall) - Wallenstein Garden - Valdštejnsky palace (currently the home of the Czech Senate).

We were walking down this little quiet side street in Lesser Town (again trying to avoid the crowds coming off the metro), and happened upon a small arched doorway in the middle of a very tall stone wall that was at least 100 yards long. I couldn't resist and stuck my head through the open doorway. Inside was the most amazing garden, and to our surprise (and Rowan's relief that I wasn't going to get in any trouble!), it was a public garden. We had just happened to find the back entrance. Here is a photo of the very strange dripstone wall inside the garden. There are all sorts of mystic faces, reptiles, birds, etc. hidden in the stone. One of the most unusual things we have ever seen.

Up Close

From a Distance
Go here for an excellent video tour of the entire wall where you can have a better view of the hidden images:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYZT6HorW7w  

Here is the plaque describing the garden. (click on image to enlarge).

White (albino) peacock showing us his stuff. There are a number of them in the garden.

We had never seen one before this encounter. WOW!

MUSIC

We found the opportunity to listen to music just about everywhere we went. The street music is around every corner and I can't include them all. Here are a couple of videos of two very different kinds of music we made special trips to go and see.

We first saw this group, The Balkan Latin Connection, on the street in Lesser Town. They were playing under the Charles Bridge. We were walking over the bridge and heard this amazing sound coming up all around us. We saw them below us and ran down to try to have a better look at them. They announced that they were playing at a festival later that night in another district of Prague, so we got directions to the park where they were playing and took the metro out to see them. It was a neighborhood Polish festival. What a really special evening we had there! I think we were the only native English speaking folks. We had a BLAST eating local food and drinking excellent Polish micro brews.

Here's another piece by them.........are they having fun or what!

OK........and here is what we ate while we were there..........WE HAD TO! THEY HAD FOOD TRUCKS!!!!!! :o)              The Chefparade Foodtruck, and The Chef

The Menu: Rib Eye, Rump and Flank Steak. Comes with roasted vegetables, potato and a creamy sauce.

 I got the special........a little bit of each one! :o) Knock-your-socks-off delicious!

More Music......
The video below was taken inside the Church of St. Nicholas located in the Little Quarter

(Malá Strana). We were exploring the quarter and stopped by the Baroque masterpiece of a church to have a look inside. I will have more detail and photos of the church in a later post just on churches and religious art. For now, here is a clip from the music concert we came back here to see. The concert was called "AIR". The only instruments were the massive church organ, played by Michaela Káčerková, and an oboe, played by Jan Thuri. As you can imagine, the acoustics in a church like this were amazing. The music in the video is Sonata in C Minor by Antonio Vivaldi.
I had to break the video into two parts in order to download to the blog. Here is part 1:

Part 2

Museum Art - Gallery M54

We visited two museums/galleries while in Prague. One of them was actually at the Strahov Monastery up by Prague Castle. The aerial views of Prague in these blog posts were all taken from the monastery area. There will be more on the Monastery in my later church/religious post. Here is a sample of drawings and etchings by Oldřich Kulhánek that were on view in the halls of the monastery. The show, titled: Ecce Homo - Behold The Man, was an amazing mix of young and old faces that had wacky similarities. They were done in microscopic detail. He is also the artist who has done all of the drawing for the Czech bank notes.
More on him here: http://www.manesova54.cz/en/vystavy/147-ecce-homo-ejhle-clovek/

The Mucha Museum

I have been a huge fan of the artist Alphonse Mucha since I was in high school, so to have an opportunity to see his original works at a museum dedicated just to him was a real highlight of this trip for me. To be able to stand in front of his life size original posters was just breathtaking- The Four Seasons, various theatre posters of Sarah Burnhardt and some of his original paintings too. If you go to Prague, you must make a stop here. You won't be disappointed. Here is a selection of some of my favorites:

Part of the beautiful gallery

 

Us As ART

The bronze sculpture pictured below by sculptor Olbram Zoubek is located on Újezd street at the foot of Petřín Hill. Most tourists that walk past this simply end up taking candid pictures of various poses next to the men (just like I did below)…completely unaware of the deep meaning of the monument. Unveiled in 2002, this monument is in fact a Memorial to the Victims of Communism. It shows seven bronze figures descending a flight of stairs. The statues appear more “decayed” the further away they are from you – losing limbs and their bodies breaking open. It symbolises how political prisoners were affected by Communism. There is also a bronze strip that runs along the center of the memorial, showing estimated numbers of those impacted by communism:  
205,486 arrested
170,938 forced into exile
4,500 died in prison
327 shot trying to escape
248 executed

The bronze plaque nearby reads:
“The memorial to the victims of communism is dedicated to all victims not only those who were jailed or executed but also those whose lives were ruined by totalitarian despotism”.

As the late afternoon sun started to cast our very long shadows, I decided I would make some of my own art...;;

.....then, of course, I got all of us involved- Rowan, Maria, Kim and me.......

The most hysterical pieces of art we saw where these Homer Simpson paintings of him as classic art. There was Homer in Edvar Munch's 'Scream', as a self portrait of Vincent VanGough and as a Vermeer woman holding a child. It was hilarious! I almost bought one :o)

We found this guy behind bars in a basement window well along the street. It nearly scared me to death!

 

Franz Kafka

I can't end this post without mentioning one of the most famous writers in Prague history.

Kafka was the author of two of the most influential novels of the 20th century, The Trial and The Castle. He spent most of his short life in the Old Town section of Prague. Hardly any of his work was published in his lifetime. Go here for more on Kafka's interesting life: http://www.egs.edu/library/franz-kafka/biography/

This bronze bust of Kafka hangs on the building where he lived and wrote many of his books.

 

That is it for this post. Stay tuned for much more fun from Prague coming in the next few weeks.