DAY 2: Prague Tour

Sunday, 31 AUGUST 2014 [Full Day Praha Tour]

Off to a mixed start so far - plenty of lovely views but little sleep for 2 days.

Source: Wikipedia

Some background on the Czech Republic: It is a central European nation that has been inhabited for tens of thousands of years.  The present Czech lands, roughly speaking, comprise Bohemia in the West and Moravia and a small part of Silesia in the East. The name Bohemia is derived from the Celtic tribe Boii, specifically, Boiohaemum which means home of the Boii. These Celts had settled in Bohemia at least around the 6th century BC i.e. a millenia before the Slavs. They were later displaced by Germanic tribes.

My 3-week sojourn in the Czech Rep covered predominantly towns and cities in Bohemia and the city of Praha which is the heart of it all. 

In medieval times, the Czech lands were an important crossing point - for trade routes from the Atlantic Ocean to the Black Sea and from the Mediterranean to the Baltic Sea. The first Slavs, i.e. the ancestors of the present Czech (& Slovakian) people, settled in the area in the 6th century AD assimilating with or replacing the existent Germanic tribes . A great (Moravian) empire arose around 833AD and during its time, two brothers from the Byzantine Empire (now Turkey), Cyril and Methodius, were invited in 863AD to further spread Christianity but also for political reasons. Popular history credits the brothers for developing the Glagolitic alphabet which is regarded as the ancestor of Slavic languages, used by central and Eastern Europeans from Czech Republic to Ukraine to Balkan states. The brothers' works are regarded as important to the cultural development of the Slavic people and hence their label as "Apostles to the Slavs". The Orthodox and Catholic churches regard them as saints.    

Saint Wenceslas monument - at night

Around the late 9th century AD a Bohemia dynasty, the Přemyslids, arose from an area in Praha to eventually rule over the entire Bohemia and territories as far north as Belarus. At its height in the latter half of the 13th century, it was one of the main powers in central Europe - ruling Hungary, Austria and territories up to the Adriatic sea. Early in this empire was a duke, Wenceslas, who after his alleged assassination by his brother Boleslav, was made a martyr owing to his reputation as a pious and heroic leader. His status was further enhanced by 4 highly popular biographies and he was eventually made a  saint and even posthumously declared king. The very first attraction we saw on day 1 is the monument to Saint Wenceslas. Czechs generally call him "Good King Wenceslas".

Praha is the capital city of the Czech Republic with a total size of about 493km squared (49,300 hectares) compared to a combined total of 34,000 hectares for Klang Valley in Malaysia. Praha's inhabitants number 1.2 million compared to an estimated 7.2 million people in Klang Valley. This means that in the Klang Valley, there are 211 people per hectare compared to 24 people per hectare in Praha... roughly speaking, Klang Valley's population density is almost 9 times that of Praha!!

Praha is 1,100 years old and has much history to tell. Most significantly for folks today, it was largely spared from widespread damage during WWII, which is why many landmarks are relatively well preserved.

Enough of statistics and history! Let's go to the places I visited on my full day tour of Praha. My tour guide for the day was Nina who, whilst having an almost full schedule in August and September, agreed to guide on various days during my three weeks in the country.

Unfortunately, it was an overcast and rainy Sunday...the first of several rainy days throughout my tour.

View of Prague Castle from across the Vltava river

Charles the IV (Karel IV in Czech), is one of the most celebrated Czech kings and his reign from 1346 to 1378AD is called the Golden Age of Bohemia. He was part of the second dynasty in Bohemia, the Luxembourgs, but nonetheless linked to the founding Přemyslids via his grandfather, king Wenceslas II (considered another great king). He established the first Central European university - Charles University in 1346AD, Prague castle, part of the St Vitus Cathedral, and a new section of Praha (New Town in 1348AD) were built under his patronage - to name a few accomplishments. Praha became the capital of the Holy Roman Empire while he was on the throne, and he was elected Holy Roman Emperor (crowned by the Pope) with a re-election. There used to be wooden bridges across the Vltava before his time but with great foresight, he commissioned the building of a solid stone bridge - i.e. Charles Bridge (Karlův most in Czech) to replace the Judith bridge that was washed away by the river. Charles bridge, which we first saw the night before, still stands strong after 650 years with large crowds amassed on it during high tourist seasons.

Monument of Holy Roman Emperor Charles the IV, unveiled in Praha in 1849AD.

There are four smaller seated statues and these are allegories to the then faculties (theology, medicine, law and philosophy) at the Charles University

Gothic tower at Old Town side of Charles Bridge built in 1380AD. The lighter-coloured statues on tower are replacements.
The originals can be found in the Lapidarium

Charles Bridge, ahh relative peace as crowds were not here yet

Street on Kampa

Rain soaked cobbled streets of Nový Svět

The other end of Nový Svět

 

Below is one of only two pictures of me during the entire tour that is not a selfie ... tough to have proper pictures taken when you are travelling solo. By the way, I'm standing in front of a building on Nerudova (well known street in Praha) that is called "House at the Two Suns" named after the house sign above the entrance. Up until the 18th century, there were no house numbers, and so inhabitants used symbols or figures to distinguish their buildings and sometimes even indicate the type of vocation they were in. Can you imagine having this system in a multi-million population today ... utter confusion!

Prior to arrival in Praha, I had requested for Nina to arrange a private tour of the libraries at a still functioning monastery - Strahov Monastery (Strahovský klášter) which is located near Prague Castle and the Little Quarter. The Monastery is a Premonstratensian or Roman Catholic religious order of canons regular. Canons regular are priests who live a rather strict religious life but have some dealing with the community on religious matters (as opposed to monks who are seclusive).

Strahov Monastery - Theological Hall constructed in 17th century.  

Theological Hall - 18,000 volumes. Bibles in many languages. Globes are astronomical and terrestrial, some globes were manufactured by 16-17th century Dutch globe-making specialists

Philosophical Hall

The Philosophical Hall at Strahov was built in the last quarter of the 1800s and contains non-religious texts ranging from the sciences to philosophy to history. The Philosophical Hall was supposedly famous in European high society in the late 18th and early 19th century. At the time, entry for women was restricted, but one of the first to enter was a British, Lady Emma Hamilton, the lover of Admiral Lord Horatio Nelson of Battle of Trafalgar fame................ just some trivia.

Such astounding interiors ... especially the sculptured ceilings and ceiling frescoes/murals.



From the monastery, we next made our way to the Wallenstein Palace (Valdštejnský palác) and to see the impressive gardens. The palace was built to rival today's number one tourist spot in Praha, the Prague Castle. It was commissioned by one of the most powerful and wealthiest Czech noblemen of the 17th century - General Albrecht Vaclav Eusebius of Wallenstein. Unfortunately, winning many battles became a curse to the general. He became too powerful and a threat to the king, and was assassinated.

On arriving at the palace gardens, the ongoing light shower turned into a moderate downpour, so I simply rushed through the gardens and went for a tour of the palace. [A subsequent attempt, 2 weeks later in mid-September, to visit these gardens also failed as there was a function at the palace and the gardens were closed to the public !!]

Beautiful gardens, not so beautiful weather

General Wallenstein



Just a small sample of the interior of Wallenstein Palace

From Wallenstein Palace, we crossed back into the heart of the city near the Old Town square, to a neo-Classical style building, the Estates Theatre (Stavovské divadlo), which officially opened in 1783. Mozart first introduced his opera Don Giovanni in 1787 at this theatre and was also the conductor for the occasion. I initially wanted to have a guided tour of the interiors but the cost was prohibitive so gave up on that. Then it occurred to me that watching a performance of Don Giovanni here would be a way to see the interiors - alas this I never did, owing to inertia..

The theatre is also where the song "Kde domov můj" (Where Is My Home) was first played during an opera/play by 19th-century Czech playwright Josef Kajetán Tyl. The song was later adopted as the Czech national anthem.

Estates Theatre, Mozart was here!

Old Town hall with the clock

Next, to the Old Town square, where every day in the summer and autumn months, humongous crowds gather before the hour, to watch a little show put on by the Pražský orloj (Astronomical Clock) on the Old Town hall. The clock dates back to 1410AD - of course repairs, enhancements and some replacements have been made over the centuries, but it retains its original features

...I'm still struggling to understand how it works.

Crowds waiting for the show every hour

The Astronomical Clock - medieval era clock - major crowd puller even at night

Again, we crossed over to the other side of the river this time to the top attraction in Praha - the Prague Castle (Pražský hrad in Czech). It is considered the world's largest ancient castle with an area of 70,000 m². The castle has origins dating back to 870AD and over the centuries went through expansions, damages in wars, destruction by fires and rebuilding. It used to be the residence of kings, but since 1918AD has been the office of the Czech president... the current president is incidentally notorious for being inebriated even on the job.

Prague Castle gates

Battling giants statues at the gates

View from outside Prague castle - breathtaking

After witnessing 'the changing of the guards' at the gates, we went through the first two courtyards of the castle complex and then into the third where stands the Gothic St Vitus cathedral. The cathedral was founded in 1344AD but was completed only almost 600 years later in 1929. Hence, the cathedral is an amalgamation of many varied architectural styles especially in the interior. Note the full name of the cathedral is Cathedral of Saints Vitus, Wenceslas and Adalbert (Katedrála svatého Víta, Václava a Vojtěcha).

Kohl's Fountain, built 1686AD, in the second courtyard

The imposing St Vitus cathedral

Back of the St Vitus Cathedral - love those flying butresses



Interior: The awe inspiring high pointed arches and rib vaults of the cathedral. No, cathedral isn't tilted.

Beautiful stained glass windows in cathedral. The high arches and external supports enable so much glass to be in place of bricks/stone in the walls ... sounds simple and yet complex 



Rose window

After St Vitus, we made a move to visit the rest of the castle but as the rain had recommenced, I decided to leave the castle complex. My greatest error was not returning to the castle as it really deserves at least a full day to explore. Inertia was again my failing.

Founded in 920, St George's Basilica is the oldest church in the castle complex

The Prague castle was really the last major place visited during this eventful day, dampened considerably by the persistent and often heavy rain. Other curiosities seen during the day include subversive statues, more churches and secular buildings.

Statues - peeing on map of Czech Republic!





Creator or promoters of such subversive exhibits would be jailed in Malaysia!!

Sometime during the day, we had made a detour to this unique and for me, beautiful Art Nouveau house which is located in the Smíchov district on Na Václavce street. The house is called Villa Helenka and was built in 1903 by Czech architect Alois Korda. I've seen photos of this house in a very dilapidated situation and was glad it had been fully restored. I thought I read somewhere, it's up for sale at a price in excess of Euro4 million (For rent at Euro8,500/month). See here for the interiors, unfurnished.

Kordova Vila Helenka

A little further up the same Na Václavce street is another interesting house with a combination of architectural styles. Its name escapes me now.

Podoli Waterworks in Praha 4, further south from Vyšehrad. This is a truly unique utility building with a Cubist facade

Also stopped at Faust house (a beauty!), located at the southern end of Charles Square (Karlovo náměstí). There are various supernatural legends associated with this building and alchemists have been noted to have stayed here, including the notorious Edward Kelly. The juicy bits can be found here. It's now a pharmacy, not sure if you can just walk in and take a look around.  

Faust House (Faustův dům)

About a 3 minute walk down Vyšehradská street, from Faust house, is the unique Church of St John Nepomuk on the Rock with its two towers tilted towards one another. This church was designed by the architect Kilian Ignaz Dientzenhofer and built in the 1730s in the Baroque style. There's an entrance to the church's garden right next to Faust House. Also of note is Emaus Monastery which is opposite this church.

Church of St John of Nepomuk on the Rock (Kostel sv. Jana Nepomuckého na Skalce)

Maternity clinic of St. Apolinaire, built in 1860s. Located on the street Apolinářská in New Town.
Mysteriously fascinating design

St. Longin's rotunda (Rotunda sv. Longina). Founded in the 12th century

Here is the second of the three remaining Romanesque rotundas in the city, located on the street Na Rybníčku in New Town. I saw the first rotunda on Day 1 and would view the third in Vyšehrad later in the tour.

NEXT: Day 3, Trip Outside of Praha to Jáchymov and Karlovy Vary