Our last stop in Old Town is the intricate Astrological Clock (Pražský orloj), according to the BBC, one of “the oldest and most elaborate clocks ever built,” as well as one of Prague’s most popular tourist attractions.

Attached to the bottom of the Old Town Hall tower, large crowds gather here  on the hour, from 9am to 9pm (NOT adjusted for daylight savings time, which would have made no sense at all to the clock’s makers), to hear the clock chime and watch the procession of saints at its top.

The clock consists of two main dials:

The topmost, the Astronomical Dial, is crammed full of mostly arcane information (again, courtesy of the BBC):

Around the outside of the dial are two circles of numbers. The inner circle is in Roman numerals; the hours as we know them are marked around the circle. All 24 hours of the day are marked, with 12 noon at the top and 12 midnight at the bottom. An hour hand points to the current time. There is no minute hand – people didn’t worry about such small units of time in 1410. The pointer on the hour hand is in fact a golden hand, with fingers and a thumb.

The outer circle is inscribed with Arabic numerals (1, 2, 3, etc up as far as 24). These show ‘Old Bohemian Time’. This is the number of hours since sunset. Since the time of sunset varies during the year, this circle of numbers rotates relative to the fixed Roman numerals, a fact which is not obvious when one is looking at the clock.

Mounted on the hour hand is a smaller dial that displays the 12 signs of the zodiac. A golden Sun and a silver Moon show the positions of the Sun and Moon against the stars. The Moon is painted half black. It rotates so that it always shows the correct phase of the Moon.

The main dial is painted in blue, red and black, representing day, twilight and night. The position of the Sun against these painted areas shows the current state. Also on the main dial are lines dividing the day into the hours of ‘Babylonian Time’. These lines divide the daylight into 12 hours. Because of this, the hours themselves vary in length with the seasons.

The lower dial, the Calendar Dial, shows the 12 months and 12 zodiac signs in the center:

It also lists all 365 days of the year, and the corresponding saint of the day, around the rim, which rotates so a gold indicator at the top tells the current day & saint.

On the top corners of the Astronomical dial are 4 figures which serve as a reminder of the prejudices of 15th century life:

Left to right, they are: Vanity, Greed (indicated by a Jew with a moneybag, yikes), Death, and the Infidel (a Turk – yikes again).

Did I mention that it gets crowded here near the top of the hour?

The hourly chime begins with Death pulling a chain and ringing a bell.  A procession of saints (St. Paul & 11 others, sorry Judas) then passes by two portals:

It’s a striking clock architecturally, and it boggles the mind to think of how something like this could have been made so long ago.  Although the procession of the saints at the hour does not, IMO, justify much of a wait, it’s quaint enough, and the clock itself is a must-see.
For more information, see the Wikipedia page on the clock.

At the heart of Prague’s Old Town district is Old Town Square (Staroměstské náměstí), bustling, hustling, and very heavily touristy.  At nighttime, it is much more mellow and charming, and that was our preferred time to see it of the 4 or 5 times we passed through the square.

Old Town Square at night

Tempted by covered tables, and wanting to rest our feet and have a pivo (half liter of beer), we once foolishly sat, and wound up spending ~800Kc (nearly US$40) for a crappy lunch, and two short pours of beer (400ml, should have been 500ml) for three times the normal price (95Kc, should have been ~20-30).

Although the food choices are pretty slim and grim, the architectural choices abound:

“The Experienced Guide”

As in tourist areas everywhere, guides tout their services in whatever languages they speak (I heard mostly UK English & German here).

Crowds in the square

The area by the Astronomical Clock (subject of the next post) is especially crowded near the top of the hour as throngs gather to see its hourly procession of  saints.

Town Hall

The Town Hall’s tower, completed in 1364, rises above everything except the spires of the Tyn Church.  For a small fee, one can go up it, but we didn’t get to that, having climbed several other towers in other parts of town.

Chariot ride

There is really a wealth of architectural styles here, ranging from the 1300s to the early 1900s, and it’s quite a feast for the eyes, if you can look past all of the tourists, “olde tyme” cart rides, etc etc etc.

Týn Church at sunset

Unmissable, and one of my favorite sights in Old Town Square is the beautiful late-Gothic Týn Church, built roughly between 1300 & 1400.

Jan Hus memorial

An interesting historical irony lies in the above picture.   The gold disk in the center of the church, now a depiction of Mary, was formerly a golden chalice, the symbol of Hussitism.  According to Wikipedia:

In 1626, after the Battle of White Mountain, the sculptures of George of Podebrady and the chalice were removed and replaced by a sculpture of the Virgin Mary, with a giant holy made from by melting down the chalice.

And now, in front of the church, is a large monument to Jan Hus (sort of an early Martin Luther), who fought the Catholic church, and died for doing so.

Before leaving tourist-central, one more post is required to examine one of Old Town Squares most famous sights, its Astronomical Clock.

Posted in Photography, Travel ]]> http://blog.adampaul.com/2009/11/02/prague-part-7-staromestske-namesti-old-town-square/feed/ 6 Adam R. Paul http://blog.adampaul.com/2009/10/30/prague-part-6-stare-mesto-old-town/ http://blog.adampaul.com/2009/10/30/prague-part-6-stare-mesto-old-town/#comments Sat, 31 Oct 2009 04:51:48 +0000 Adam R. Paul http://blog.adampaul.com/?p=886 ]]>

Adjoining New Town is Prague’s highly touristy, but also very interesting, Old Town (Staré Město).  At the border between the two is the ancient Powder Tower, built in 1475 and long a part of the coronation route of Czech kings, which wound from Vyšehrad, through this tower, past the Town Hall in Old Town Square, across the Charles Bridge, through Mala Strana, and finally up the hill to Prague Castle.

Powder Tower, daytime

Powder Tower, nighttime

The tower is a fine example of Gothic architecture, burnished black with centuries of city grime.

Power Tower detail

Attached to the right side of the tower is the Art Nouveau masterpiece Municipal House (Obecní dům).  This building, built between 1905 and 1912, is a stellar example of this architectural style, festooned with swooning ladies, mosiacs, and stained glass.

Municipal House (Obecní dům)

Municipal House (Obecní dům), entry

Municipal House (Obecní dům), mosaic

Municipal House (Obecní dům), detail

Here, as elsewhere in central Prague, Art Nouveau architecture abounds (click any image below for a larger version):

Nearby, the Hotel Pariz continues the Art Nouveau trend:

Hotel Pariz

Hotel Pariz, detail

Hotel Pariz, entry

Electrician(!!) advertisement

Although I was not surprised to see a nude on the side of a car, I was not expecting it to be an advertisement for an electrician when I plugged the text into a translator!

Kafka & Golem statue

In a quiet square near the Jewish quarter (Josefov) stands an interesting statue of Franz Kafka riding on the shoudlers of a golem.  The image and name of golem is everywhere in central Prague, due to one of the more famous golem myths being set here (see the wiki page for a good description of the general legend, and specifically the story of Prague’s Judah Loew ben Bezalel).

Cobbled streets

Strolling the maze of old cobbled streets, some closed to traffic, and none congested with cars, was great fun.  The area is well-signed, so it’s hard to get too lost, although it’s easy to lose track of exactly what street one is one, as the streets change name every block or so!

Faded building

Anti-fascist sticker

I saw a fair number of stickers like the one above, which piqued my curiosity.  A little searching turned up nothing in English, but it’s pretty obviously an anti-fascist, anti-racist motto, and has something to do with the German hardcore punk rock scene.

Rudolphinium

Near the Vltava River stands the Rudolphinium, a large concert hall opened in 1885.  Although we did not have occasion to see its interior, on our visit, there was a cool sculpture made of letters and numbers in front of it, which we admired each time we passed it by.

Old Town Metro station

The Old Town Metro station has its own color scheme, like many of the underground stations in Prague.  Although perhaps a bit dated, I liked the dimpled metal and the fact that the color changed from stop to stop.

It would be inconceivable to visit Prague and not see Old Town.  Although its most famous sights are in Old Town Square, the subject of the next two posts in this series, it is well worth the time to just wander around, as many interesting little squares and architectural beauties lie just off the beaten path.

One of the few day trips we did outside of Prague was to visit the Czech Air Force museum in Letecké, just outside of Prague.  Particularly interesting to me was their displays of MiG aircraft, built to intercept the USAF’s fighters, the very planes “our side” fought against in such silly Cold War movies as “Top Gun.”  It was a nice enough museum, if a bit sterile, with all of the craft lined up behind roped-off pathways, and stern-looking employees eyeing visitors suspiciously.

Since I am out of town this week, and have little else to say about this particular museum, the rest of this post will serve as a Wordless Wednesday:

Wenceslas Square (Václavské náměsti) is the heart of Nove Město (New Town), and is a vibrant and interesting place to take a stroll.  Its upper end is capped by the large edifice of the Czech National Museum and a large statue of St. Wenceslas, the latter a popular meeting spot.

Czech National Museum

Pockmarked columns on the National Museum

The columns of the National Museum bear numerous light-colored patches, “souveniers” from the 1968 Prague Spring uprising against Soviet rule, which the Soviets brutally put down, leaving bullet holes behind.  The Czech masons tasked with repairing these holes intentionally mismatched the colors so the evidence remains now, 41 years later

Former Czechoslovak parliament building

A to-my-eye ugly brown building sits next to the National Museum.  When part of the Soviet bloc, the Czechoslovak parliament convened here.  Ironically, after Czech independence in 1993, the building was home to Radio Free Europe for years, until they moved to a more secure location.

Hotel

Along the wide street are lovely mostly early-1900s buildings, with landscaping in the median.  Sausage stands dot the sidewalk, and the lower end (pedestrians-only) often has events in it.  One one walk there was what appeared to be a talent show for teenagers going on.

Art Nouveau architecture abounds here, with wonderful details visible on at least one building on every block, often more.  The must-visit Mucha Museum is also on a side street in this area.

The Art Nouveau Grand Hotel Europa

Building detail

Building details

Building detail

Mosaic

In the Lucerne Gallery hangs an interesting sculpture by David Cerný, a controversial Czech artist:

Riding a dead horse

At first blush it appears to just be a silly sculpture of someone riding a dead horse upside-down, but this image is full of symbolism for the Czechs.   St. Wenceslas (the “Good King” of the Christian hymn), murdered in the 10th century by his half-brother, Boleslav the Cruel, is said to be sleeping with his army under the Blahnik Mountain, and in the Czech’s time of greatest need, he will come forth and vanquish their foes.  Rick Steves’ Prague book notes that many Czechs darkly note that he did not materialize during any of the 5 invasions and occupations of the country by foreign armies, so worse times must still be ahead.  So Wenceslas here, sitting on a dead horse, is an image that stirs up emotions in many folks (imagine a large sculpture in the US of George Washington sitting on a dead horse, or the like).  The figure of Wenceslas also bears some resemblance to Vaclav (which in fact is Czech for Wenceslas)  Klaus, the current Czech president.

Hare Krsna Hare Krsna Krsna Krsna Hare Hare!

Restaurants here are mostly touristy and middling, although I enjoyed a tasty enough typical Czech meal at Restaurace u Praviaznice (address: Pravaznicka 3):

Restaurace u Praviaznice interior

Goulash

Czech food takes some getting used to (and I never got used to it).  It’s very heavy, and vegetables are practically non-existent.  My Czech colleague Ondrej likes to say “We love our vegetables – we just prefer to eat them after the pig has”   The dish above is pretty typical – meat, dumplings (two types here), and gravy.

Stencil

My manager, Jaromir, and co-worker Bob

At the restaurant above (whose name I don’t have, sorry), I had a very tasty meal when I went with my Czech colleagues Jaromir & Bob, and a forgettable one when I went with my wife, an experience unfortunately all too typical here.  With Jaromir & Bob we had delicious sour rye bread and flavors were bright, when I went with Sarah, no bread was offered, and everything was a bit dull.

Concave tiles at the Metro station

Verrrrry long escalator

There are two Metro stations in Wenceslas Square, the confusingly-similarly-named Muztek and Muzeum.  The former has a very long escalator indeed, and in fact one of Prague Metro’s stations (not one I visited) has the longest escalator in Europe at around 100 meters.

Wenceslas statue – I’ll see you “under the tail”!

Karlův most, known to us English-speaking tourists as the Charles Bridge, is one of Prague´s best-known sites, and a much-visited one at that. Linking Staro Měste (Old Town) with Malá Strana (Lesser Town) and Prazký Hrad (Prague Castle), this iconic bridge, built in the numerical palindrome of April 31, 1357 (that´s 1357531), this oldest extant bridge over the Vltava River is at once charming and maddening.

Charles Bridge, with Prague Castle and St. Vitus Cathedral behind

Since we spent the non-work part of this trip at a hotel in Mala Strana, we had occasion to walk across the Charles Bridge several times.

Mala Strana side of the bridge

On the Mala Strana side are two old gate towers; The shorter one (on the left) is all that remains of a pre-1357 bridge.

Entering Mala Strana

Continuing under the tower spits you out onto the busy streets of this compact, but pleasant district.

Charles Bridge at night

At night the crowds are much thinner, and the views of the lit-up monuments of central Prague are lovely.

The taller of the two towers on the Mala Strana side is climbable for a 70Kc (about US$3.50) ticket, and is worthwhile for the lovely views of Mala Strana and Prague Castle:

Mala Strana views from the bridge tower

St. Vitus Cathedral from the bridge tower

Mala Strana and Prague Castle from the bridge tower

Charles Bridge from above

Acrophobics, however, are advised to skip this tower – unlike the other two towers nearby that I climbed, this one has a very steep wooden staircase that my heights-fearing colleague Melynda did not appreciate one little bit!

Steep steps on the Mala Strana-side bridge tower

Mornings, evenings, and weekdays are definitely the time to visit the Charles Bridge unless you like dense crowds.  Compare the photo below, taken in the late afternoon on a Sunday:

A relatively un-crowded bridge

… with this one, taken mid-day on a Saturday:

Bridge, crowded

It’s easy enough to understand why it’s so popular, though, with views like this:

St. Vitus Cathedral

Night scene from the bridge

An interesting monument is on the downstream side of the bridge:

Site of St. John of Nepomuk´s martyrdom

This is supposedly where St. John of Nepomuk, confessor of the royal family, was thrown off of the bridge in 1396 on the orders of Wenceslaus IV for refusing to divulge the contents of the Queen’s confessions.   It is also possible that this story was fabricated out of whole cloth to create a “native saint” for the Czech people, whom the Catholic Church strongly wanted to prevent from (re)turning to Hussitism.

St. John of Nepomuk

Wishing plaque

As in so many heavily-touristed places (Trevi Fountain in Rome, the Haghia Sofia’s  “sweating” column in Istanbul, etc etc etc) , the plaque under the statue of St. John of Nepomuk promises to fulfill wishes if touched.

Bridge statue

Many of the bridge’s statues are replicas, with the originals kept in a vault in Vyšehrad for safekeeping.

Bridge band

On several daytime visits a rather good band was playing amid the myriad art and souvenier vendors.

Cross with Hebrew inscription

What´s this?  A Christian cross with a Hebrew inscription?  This oddity has an interesting back-story.  From its Wikipedia article:

This sculpture is one of the most historically interesting sculptures on the bridge, which gradually gained its present appearance throughout many centuries. The original wooden crucifix was installed at this place soon after 1361 and probably destroyed by the Hussites in 1419. A new crucifix with a wooden corpus was erected in 1629 but was severely damaged by the Swedes towards the end of the Thirty Years’ War. The remnants of this crucifix can be found in the lapidarium of the National Museum in Prague. This was replaced by another wooden Calvary which, in turn, was replaced with a metal version in 1657. Bought in Dresden, this crucifix was originally made in 1629 by H. Hillger based upon a design by W. E. Brohn. In 1666, two lead figures were added, but these were replaced in 1861 by the present sandstone statues by Emanuel Max, portraying the Virgin Mary and John the Evangelist. The golden Hebrew text on the crucifix was added in 1696. It was placed there as punishment for a Prague Jew, Eliass Backoffen, who had been convicted of debasing the Holy Cross by not removing his hat while passing by it. The text is derived from the words of the prophet Isaiah and reads, in English, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Hosts.

National Theater

Old Town-side tower statues

On the Nove Město side of the bridge is a beautiful Gothic tower, heavily ornamented and decorated with 5 statues.  Like the Mala Strana-side tower, this one is climbable for a few dollars´ ticket, and unlike the Mala Strana one, this tower has a substantial stone staircase, and is unlikely to scare anybody with its exposure.

Church roof, day and night

Church of St. Francis

Two pretty buildings stand next to and across the bridge tower on Knights of the Cross Square.  The tower´s lookouts are also a nice place to watch the crowds come and go on the bridge.

Pedestrian Crossing

City of a Thousand Spires

Prague is known as The City of a Thousand Spires, and for good reason!  The otherwise fairly flat skyline is frequently punctuated by a tower, a spire, or an antenna.

Charles Bridge

Vltava View

It would be inconceivable to visit Prague and not walk across the Charles Bridge at least once.  I definitely enjoyed it the most in the evening or nighttime (it´s perfectly safe), when the crowds died down, and there was some peace and quiet to be had.

Next to the imposing Basilica of St. Peter and Paul in Vyšehrad lies the compact, pretty Vyšehrad hřbitov (Vyšehrad Cemetery).  Open from roughly 9-5,  it´s a must-visit for anyone in the area due to both its lovely tombstones, and the fact that a number of notable Czechs are buried there.

Vyšehrad cemetery

An interesting factoid about this cemetery is that it contains many authors, composers, businesspeople, and artists from the elite ranks of Czech society, but virtually no politicians, which may say something about how Czechs view their leaders!

Being as it´s full of artists, it is little surprise then that many of the tombstones are unusual and artistic:

Leaning grave marker

Tombstone

Hands

The center of the cemetery is nicely tended, with just the right amount  of overgrown’ness.

Grassy graves

Along the perimeter are much fancier monuments, many featuring very attractive mosaic or fresco pieces on the walls and ceilings.  As is the case in much of Prague, the influence of the Art Nouveau movement can be felt here, with many figures exemplifying the style, one of my favorites.

Art Nouveau monument

Fancy monument

Art Nouveau detail

More Nouveau detail

Trés nouveau!

This was probably my favorite headstone

Amid the Art Nouveau grandeur and artistic expressions are more traditional cemetery art forms:

Monument mosaic

Gravesite

Flowers

Crosses

Jay (European) / Garrulus glandarius

I did not see very many birds here, but a pretty Jay (LIFER!) allowed me to get a few photographs.  Although named a Jay, this European one is in a different genus than any of our North American Jays.

Among the famous names interred here are Alfons Mucha (wiki page, official site), whose inscription on the Slavin Monument gives no hint of the wonderful Art Nouveau decorative style he helped to popularize,

Antonin Dvořák, classical composer, best-known for his New World Symphony (the second movement is the most famous part),

writer Jan Neruda,

and Bedřich Smetana, composer of the Czech symphonic poem masterpiece Má Vlast (´My Country´), with its lovely minor-key piece, Vltava (see about 1 minute in, courtesy of musopen.com)

Cemetery lane

Slavín monument

Slavín monument detail

At the far end of the cemetery is the large Slavín Monument, marking many notable Czechs, including the aforementioned Mucha.

Like Vyšehrad itself, the cemetery is a must-visit, in my opinion, and, like the rest of the park, is lightly visited compared to the thick crowds in much of old Prague.

Since I was in Prague for half business, half pleasure, and we wound up visiting many of its popular sites more than once, instead of doing a timeline-based travelogue, I will instead dedicate each post in this series to an area or monument in Prague.

Please forgive in advance any funny typos involving y or z – I have my keyboard set to Czech so I can type the accents, and which also swaps y and z

Basilica of St. Peter and Paul, Vyšehrad

We’ll start with the lovely outlying neighborhood of Vyšehrad, where I spent much of the trip, since that’s where the company-paid hotel was.

I stayed at the decidedly un-lovely Holiday Inn Congress Center for the first 8 nights:

Hoilday Inn Congress Center

Aside from the rather important fact that it was not on my dime, this hotel did have a few nice features.  1) it was just a few steps from the beautiful Vyšehrad park and a short walk from the Vltava River, 2) their breakfast buffet was excellent, and 3) it was just a few Metro stops from the company office.

Leopold´s Gate, 1670AD

Just off of Pankrac is Leopold’s Gate, a relic from the Baroque period of Vyšehrad Castle.  According to prague.cz, Vyšehrad was founded in the 10th century AD as competition to nearby Prague Castle, and was the seat of the first Bohemian king, King Vratislav II and the following Premyslid dynasty, ending in around 1140.

Rotunda of St. Martin, ca. 1100AD

A short walk past a school for the disabled and a cafe is the Rotunda of St. Martin, possibly the oldest building in Prague, and one of the only buildings in Vyšehrad to survive the leveling of the area in 1420 when Hussites defeated King Zikmud in the Battle of Vyšehrad.

City views from the old castle walls

Continuing right past the rotunda leads to a walkway atop ancient ramparts, and featuring excellent views of central Prague.  Numerous benches and a couple of signs explaining the skyline invite the visitor to enjoy a stroll.

Basilica of St. Peter and Paul

Down and around from the rampart walk, the Basilica of St. Peter and Paul commands attention, with its mixed architecture and tall towers.

This church has had an eventful history, first built as a Romanesque basilica, the rebuilt in the 14th centurz in the high Gothic style by Charles IV, again as a Baroque church in the 1720s, with neo-Gothic additions in the 1800s.  Its two towers were added in 1902 and 1903.

The three front doors of the basilica are particularly beautiful, featuring the crossed key motif of the Premyslids, and attractive mosaics above the secondary doors:

Basilica of St. Peter and Paul main door

Main door

Left-side door mosaic

Right-side door

Right-side door detail

Right-side door mosaic

I´m afraid I have no idea about the significance of either of the gilt mosaic motifs above the side doors – if you do, please leave a comment!

A pair of grotesque carvings flank each door:

Grotesque faces on the Basilica of St. Peter and Paul – click for larger views

The grounds around the basilica are grassy with mature trees, and locals clearly enjoyed after-work walks here, for obvious reasons.

Basilica and branches

To the basilica´s right is a wonderful cemetery (see the next post for that), and to its left a natural area with a few large statues.

Woodpigeon / Columba palumbus

Although I heard many birds here, I saw but a couple, here a Woodpigeon (LIFER!), which doesn´t look very different from our feral pigeons.

Now that’s an interesting question!

On the other side of the Holiday Inn is Congress Center, a large convention center complete with a casino, which was guarded by heavily armed soldiers for a couple of days when the EU summit was held here.

Main freeeway through Prague

A footbridge leads across the main freeway to a quiet residential district where I had a very good dinner of roasted pork knee, but which has little else to entice the traveler, unless you really want to visit a Libyan-owned hotel and casino to thumb your nose at US embargoes.

It´s too bad Vyšehrad is not in most tour guides, as I found it a very welcome respite from the hustle and bustle of touristy central Prague, but that very omission likely contributes to its charm.

To get here, take the Red Metro to the Vyšehrad stop and walk away from the freeway, toward the tall towers of St. Peter and Paul.

Sunday, 28 June 2009:

Given that this hike was nearly 3 months ago, I will let the photos tell the story of a lovely little walk Sarah & I did with our friend Linda.  We were happy to see a fairly large number of late-season wildflowers blooming among the dry grasses covering the hillsides.

Trail

Centaury / Centaurium sp.

Royal Rein Orchid / Piperia transversa

Junction

Elegant Brodiaea / Brodiaea elegans

Yellow Mariposa / Calochortus luteus

Dry grass

California Milkwort / Polygala californica

Redwoods

Trail

Goldwire / Hypericum concinnum

Trail

Newt crossing

Lake Lagunitas

Stonecrop / Dudleya farinosa(?)

Sticky Monkeyflower / Mimulus aurantiacus

Redwood grove

Oceanspray / Holodiscus discolor

Lake Lagunitas

Lake Lagunitas & Mt. Tamalpais

Distance: ~2.7mi

Wildflowers seen:
- California Milkwort
- California Poppy
- Centuary sp.
- Chia
- Elegant Brodiaea
- Farewell-to-spring
- Goldwire
* Oceanspray
- Royal Rein Orchid
- Sticky Monkeyflower
- Stonecrop
- Yellow Mariposa

* = life flower

Marigolds

Dahlia

Dahlias

Dahlias

Dahlia

Dahlia close-up

Conservatory of Flowers’ Dahlia garden

Dahlias

Snapdragons

Car-free fun on JFK Drive