I started out at 7 this morning, to tour Prague. I saw A LOT. All of the churches have started to look the same to me, but there were tons of new and different things to see here too. All in all, a bit of a light day, with only 13 miles 🙂
For more than 600 years, the Astronomical Clock has been a destination in Prague. This isn’t your regular clock. The special mechanical clock shows the positions of the sun, moon, Zodiac, and other planets on a gorgeous “astronomical” dial, plus every hour the clock whizzes to life and 12 apostles march around the tower top. The larger blue circle on the bottom is also full of names – and each day of the year is a different name. So in America for example, of the day of Michael, all of the Michaels would wish each other a happy name day. The skeleton you can see on the right is death – he’s riding the bell at every hour, letting you know your time is coming to an end.
The legend says that the creator of the clock wanted to create another one; the local councilors were afraid of that, so they gouged his eyes out. Lots of violence in Prague. Anyway, he got back at them by removing a key part, so the clock didn’t work for 100 years.
I also went through the old Jewish Quarter which includes a number of synagogues, preserved historical buildings, and fun nods its most famous residents along with one of the oldest cemeteries in Europe. There is a synagogue called the Old New synagogue. It used to be the New Synagogue, but others were damaged (After Operation Anthropoid, when the Germans were mad that Czech parachuters managed to kill the #3 Nazi in charge, and destroyed parts of the city in anger). So then new synagogues were built…so this was no longer the “new” one…so they just decided to call it the Old New one.
Before the wars, Jewish residents were restricted to this area; they couldn’t live, or be buried, outside of it. because it was such a small area, and the larger area went through a number of plagues, plus more normal deaths, they had to bury their dead on top of each other, continuing to basically raise the ground of the cemetery. There are about 12,000 tombstones – that’s all that could fit – but probably around 100,000 people buried there.
There is also something called The Legend of the Golum of Prague. The tale goes that in the 16th century, the renowned Rabbi Löw, also known as the Maharal of Prague, was seeking a way to protect the local Jewish people from the insane and inconsistent rulers at Prague Castle. With the power to transform the four elements into living things, he moulded a superhuman from the mud of the Vltava River – the Golem. To bring the Golem to life, Rabbi Löw had to insert a shem (a clay tablet bearing the name of God) into its mouth. Rabbi Löw would deactivate his creation for the Sabbath (Friday sundown until Saturday sundown), to allow the creature to rest according to the Jewish custom. However, one day he forgot (his child was sick, and he was distracted), and the Golem went on a rampage through the ghetto, destroying everything. Rabbi Löw was reciting Psalm 92 in the Old New Synagogue when he was interrupted and told of the chaos the Golem was causing. He eventually confronted the monster outside the synagogue, where he managed to remove the shem. The Golem was never revived and allegedly was later stored in the synagogue’s attic in smaller pieces. They say the pieces are still there, and Golem can be brought back if they need to. To this day, Psalm 92 is recited twice during services in Prague’s most famous synagogue.
The National Museum was originally founded to showcase collections focusing on natural history, but has since expanded to include other scientific and cultural exhibits. It sits in a stunning building above Wenceslas Square, where you can shop on the way to the museum and see the impressive Wenceslas Monument, with a statue of the saint on horseback, before heading inside. The statue is so big, if you’re meeting someone there, you have to say if you’re meeting at the head or the tail. Wenceslas Square itself is a huge boulevard where some of the biggest demonstrations took place during the fall of Communism, but they were generally peaceful. Even now, they protest with the “ringing of they keys.” Basically, they hold their keys up in the air and shake them; it signifies it is time to open a new door.
There are 17 bridges crossing the Vltava River in Prague, including the Charles Bridge. It’s one of the oldest bridges in the Czech Republic. The medieval stone arches connect the Old Town and Mala Strana, or Lesser Town.
You’re supposed to touch the plaque below the bronze statue of John of Nepomuk on its north side for luck. If you zoom in, the plaque is actually of John getting thrown off the side of the bridge, which is how he was actually executed. the rumor is, John (who becomes a saint, with five stars over his head) was the confessor of the Queen of Bohemia. He wouldn’t share her secrets, so her husband had him killed.
Sitting high on the hill, Prague Castle is the largest castle complex in the world. Per their marketing materials: “From the impressive vaulted ceiling of Vladislav Hall and the notorious window that was the scene of the 1618 defenestrations in the Old Royal Palace, to the stunning stained glass windows of St Vitus’ Cathedral and the quaint workshops and homes of Golden Lane, you’ll be transported back to a time when the Habsburgs ruled and alchemists worked in the castle’s shadow.” There is a daily changing of the guard ceremony at noon each day.
St Vitus Cathedral is a part of the Castle complex. It took 600 years to build; they kept needing to redirect the funds needed to complete it to various wars.
The inside is ridiculous – it is huge, with tons of incredible stained glass.
There is also a nondescript little door off of one of the rooms. Behind that door are the Crown Jewels (there are some on display, but they are fake). The door has 7 keys – and people like the President, and the Prime Minister, and Arch bishop each have a key. All 7 have to be in the door at once for it to open, to access them.
WWII – whose side were they on? No one’s, actually. Czechoslovakia was a key location – the Elbe Sandstone Mountains were a natural barrier to Germany, that Hitler needed to get past. So, somehow, there was this thing called the Munich Agreement. The short version is that in 1938, Germany, Italy, the UK and France met, and they basically agreed to let Hitler have part of CZ to keep the peace. Key issues were 1. France was in an alliance with CZ, and 2. No one invited CZ to the meeting (even though they had a representative in the area). They say “it was a meeting without us, about us.” Turns out, you couldn’t appease Hitler, or trust him, and a few months later he broke his word and fully invaded CZ – so they were basically an occupied country from the start. They were told initially if they fought back, they’d be the reason the war would start, and wouldn’t have any support from their allies, so there wasn’t much they could do. After the war, they were free with a democracy for three years, but then were given to Russia, in another “meeting without us, about us.” They understandably are pretty frustrated about this history.
Speaking of airplanes, we (the Americans) accidentally bombed Prague. Because they area was forcibly controlled by agreement, the Germans didn’t have to wage a war to take the land over. And, most knew CZ was being held against their will – so there wasn’t really much fighting there, and the city has been amazingly preserved. Except for this one time, when we were apparently aiming for Dresden (a city in Germany, about 2 hours by car), but mixed it up with Prague. I apologized.
Other random things:
Prague grew over centuries, and is crazily designed. There is a restaurant along the water, and the only way to get to it is to go through a narrow alley down a staircase between two buildings. the staircase is so narrow, they installed a stoplight – for people!
Mass transit is great. I took the metro once, and the trolley up to Prague Castle. Trains are all super fast – you just need to make sure you push the button to open the doors, otherwise they don’t open. You’ll stand there looking like an idiot. Not that I would know.
Another Post office!
Pink Shopping Malls. Who cares? Fair – but before it was a shopping mall, it was a military barracks. Before that, it was a hospital. And before that, originally, it was a monastary.
Ukraine – I met a lovely Ukrainian woman working in one of the stores. She had been here for about 90 days so far, and was learning English. CZ has welcomed about 400,000 refugees from Ukraine, and they are very pro-Ukraine – and the older generation brings up the Munich Agreement a lot. They said locally at the time of the invasion of Crimea, that it should not be tolerated – Putin could not be trusted, and made promises that just like Nazi Germany, about the people living there really being his citizens anyway, and he’d just take that little area and then stop. He didn’t keep his word either, and apparently the CZ government has basically been going around to the rest of the world saying “I told you so.”
John Lennon Wall in near the French Embassy in an otherwise quiet part of town. Starting in the 60s, it became a graffiti wall – originally with a painting of Lennon, and his lyrics, and poetry and other things, opposing communism. I’m told the wall literally changes daily. At one point recently Prague authorities painted over it all and asked people to stop. Spoiler: people did not stop.
Tonight, I had another adventure planned. I went to a dinner event, where I learned some Czech recipes, including stories behind them, and heard stories about Czechia, and had more wine as I helped prepare some of the dishes. I also tried Czech fruit brandy. It tasted like wine.
I have more from today, but I’m wiped out and need to verify I am giving you the right stories with the right photos 🙂