Art Nouveua Splendour At Prague's Municipal House & River Tour
After an introduction to kosher food and after sampling some Krupnik and Gefilte Fish
, I thanked Michal Gnsberger for his culinary education and for his hospitality at the King Solomon Restaurant. Richard, my tour guide, who had already taken me on a tour through Pragues Jewish Quarter in the morning, kindly offered to accompany me through Old Town past a number of Pragues landmarks. The Powder Gate, whose foundation stone was laid in 1475, used to be one of Pragues city gates in the Middle Ages and became part of the Royal Coronation Route to Prague Castle. This medieval tower was indeed used to store gunpowder in the 17th century.
The east side of the Powder Tower opens up to a big public space called Republic Square which is home to the Czech National Bank and the famous Hybernia Theatre. The most impressive jewel on Republic Square is the Municipal House, Pragues most spectacular Art Nouveau building and a national landmark.
Municipal House was constructed between 1905 and 1912 on the site of the former Royal Court palace, which used to be the residence of the Czech kings in the 14th and 15th century, This palace stood abandoned for centuries, and was later turned into a seminary and a military hospital. Finally, in the early 1900s, the decision was made to demolish it and to build the stunning Art Nouveau masterpiece that still stands today.
The exterior of Municipal House impresses with its detailed stone carvings, gold trimmings and stained glass windows. Magnificent frescos adorn the faade, and allegorical figures represent historical and cultural symbols of the Czech nation. A huge semi-circular mosaic called Homage to Prague embellishes the central entrance area of this magnificent structure.
I joined the 2 oclock guided tour and our young guide explained the various interior details of this structure. The most impressive space is Smetana Hall, a concert hall holding 1200 seats that is named after Bedrich Smetana, a famous Czech composer of the late 1800s who pioneered a nationalistic musical style that coincided with the Czech countrys desire for independence from the Habsburg Empire. An impressive glass dome covers Smetana Hall and floods this performance venue with natural light.
Our guide took us through a variety of smaller meeting rooms, many of which were featuring authentic early 1900s furniture. Every room was copiously adorned with Art Nouveau details and many of the meeting rooms also featured painted ceilings.
Numerous famous Czech painters participated in the decoration of Municipal House, most famously Alfons Mucha, the most well-known Czech Art Nouveau artist. His most renowned work is the Mucha window at St. Vitus Cathedral, a stained glass masterpiece in brilliant colours. At Municipal House, Mucha painted the mayors hall and his vivid wall paintings are perfectly preserved and cover the entire room and the ceiling.
Today, Municipal House is not only one of Pragues most popular concert venues, it also holds meeting space and several hospitality establishments. Most well-known are the American Bar in the basement and the famous first class Francouszka Restaurant on the main level which serves upscale French cuisine.
Municipal House also played an important role in the history of the Czech nation: in 1918 the proclamation of the independent state of Czechoslovakia took place here. The building became important again during the Velvet Revolution when meetings were held here between the Civic Forum and the communist regime in November of 1989.
After my foray into Czech Art Nouveau architecture I strolled back through the Jewish Quarter to the banks of the Vltava River. My plan was to catch a boat tour on this historic river and get a different perspective of the city. I arrived on the Knights of the Cross Square right in front of the entrance to the Charles Bridge. Next to the Baroque Church of St. Francis on the north side of the square I walked down a set up stone stairs that took me right underneath the Charles Bridge.
Long and narrow sightseeing boats were parked in this underground space, and after offering us some soft drinks and sweet treats, our captain / tour guide turned on the diesel engines and we slowly cruised out onto the open river.
With a length of 430 kilometres, the Vltava River is the longest river in the Czech Republic. It separates the eastern city districts of Old Town, New Town and the Jewish Quarter from the Little Quarter and the Prague Castle District on the western bank of the river. Our captain explained that during its course through the City of Prague, the Vltava covers 30 kilometres, 10 islands and 17 bridges. Many European capital cities could be reached from here through different canals: in the 1800s it would be possible to get to Berlin in six days, Amsterdam in 10 days, Paris and Vienna in three weeks. The Vltava River has obviously held huge importance throughout the history of the Czech nation.
As we were crossing underneath the arches of the Charles Bridge, our guide explained that the bridge is protected by icebreakers. On the west side our boat took us into a side arm of the Vltava called the Devils Canal which has often been used as a stand-in for Venice in different movies. This canal was built to supply power to eight water mills as the water flow was very fast in this area. Although this used to be one of the poorer areas of Prague in previous centuries, the neighbourhood surrounding the Devils Canal is now among the most coveted real estate in the entire city.
As the canal came to an end we turned around and our captain pointed out the watermarks left on the old buildings here, leftovers of the Great Flood of 2002. The water level at that time was 6.5 metres (more than 20 feet) higher than now. This so-called 100-year flood affected countries such as the Czech Republic, Austria, Germany, Slovakia, Poland, Hungary, Romania and Croatia. For Prague in particular this was the worst flood in 200 years. The flood caused huge amount of property damage, but fortunately the loss of life was small due to timely evacuations. A large amount of money was invested to reconstruct damaged properties, and according to our captain, Prague is nicer now than it was before.
Crossing back east across the river, our captain pointed out the Metronome, a symbol of freedom and changing times. Although not operational any more, this gigantic metronome replaced the largest Stalin statue in the world which had roughly the same size as the famous Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro. Prague today is one of Europes most beautiful and popular destinations, a far cry from the grey and drab city of Communist times.
We had reached the end of our boat trip and slowly made our way back into the underground docking area below the Charles Bridge. This boat trip had definitely introduced me to a whole new perspective of Prague. Now it was the late afternoon and the weather was slowly started to turn sunny again. I wanted to explore the western bank of the Vltava River and started crossing the historic Charles Bridge, one of Pragues most well-known landmarks.
by: arther
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