Prague

On the way from Berlin to Vienna, I took one of two 5 day trips with my study abroad program, this one to Prague. Prague is an absolutely beautiful city, in part because the city was not bombed during World War II, meaning the city’s old buildings still remain. 

Throughout our trip, we saw the typical Prague sites, including the medieval Charles Bridge.

If you make a wish while touching the above sculpture, it’s supposed to come true.

We also went to the bridge for sunrise one morning. While the sunrise was a bit of a dud, it was wonderful to have the bridge pretty much to ourselves. (It’s usually packed with people).

Here are a few photos of the Old Town Square, complete with the usual pretty European churches:

Here is the Astronomical Clock, Europe’s most over-rated tourist attraction (while the clock itself is pretty cool, the guys moving above the clock on the hour are pretty underwhelming):

We also visited Prague’s castle complex, the largest in Europe.

Among other things, the castle complex includes a cathedral:

some great views of the city:

and a window (here’s the view through said window):

through which some Catholic priests was thrown by Protestants in 1618 in the Defenestration of Prague, starting the 30 Years War. Although the window was rather unimpressive, since the Defenestration of Prague is one of my favorite European historical events and defenestration is one of my favorite words, I figured I should mention it.

Here is a photo of the National Theatre, which was built beginning in 1868 by the people as the first theatre with performances in Czech in the country. The theatre was a big step and symbol for growing Czech nationalism against the Austrian empire. We saw the Bartered Bride, one of the first operas written in Czech, there our last night.

Prague also has a number of interesting and distinctive statues:

The bottom part of the pool is in the shape of the Czech Republic.

The last is a monument to victims of government oppression during the period of communist rule. Each sculpture going back becomes smaller until only feet are left.

We also visited the Jewish Museum in Prague, which consists of around five or six sites, most of them synagogues. Unlike most European cities, most of Prague’s Jewish architecture remains today, since Hitler planned to turn Prague’s Jewish district into a museum for future generations to visit to learn about Jewish culture after the Final Solution was completed. Although it’s great that these buildings remain to educate the public about Jewish culture, the history behind the continued existence of these spaces is problematic.

Among the buildings of the museum were the Spanish Synagogue, which has a gorgeous Moorish interior, a cemetery, whose tombstones were placed unbelievably close together, and the Pinkassynagogue. On this synagogue’s walls were written the names of all the Jewish individuals who were deported from the Czech Republic by the Nazis during the Holocaust, organized by location. It was really powerful to see the number of names and how much wall space was required to write all of them. Seeing the specific names was also powerful as it emphasized the unique identity of the victims in a way that a simple number cannot.

The trip was rounded out by walking along the river and up one of Prague’s many hills for a wonderful view of the city: