Slav Epic Part Five – Paintings 16 to 20 This post explores the detail on paintings numbered 16 to 20 in the Slav Epic with interpretation, what to look for and historic context etc. If you want first to learn what leads up to the creation of the Slav Epic, who painted it, when and … Read More
Prague Jewish Garden Not so fast, this is not some horticultural post about what grows in a Jewish garden. This relates to a cemetery close to Wenceslas Square that pre-dates the current Old Jewish Cemetery by 200 years and is recognised as the oldest Jewish burial ground in the country. In the mid-13th Century a … Read More
The Pig Farm Before you read this post you might like to get the necessary background by reading the Roma Internment in World War Two post. In 1992 an American journalist called Paul Polansky was in the regional Czech town of Trebon researching the 19th century emigration of Czechs to the USA and found that … Read More
Famous Czechs – Franz Kafka As Franz Kafka lay on his death bed at the age of 40 on June 3rd 1924 he would scarcely have believed that less than half a Century later his name would be known around the world, his literary work appearing in more than 30 languages, his private letters and … Read More
Prague Tourism Sign Posts In the age of Google Maps you’d be forgiven for thinking that physical sign posts planted in the ground is all a bit 1990s. But once you get used to what they show you they are a useful aid to exploring the city especially if your data connection breaks. So you’re … Read More
Prague and INXS For those of us in our 50s who still remember INXS and have at least two CD copies of the album “Kick” then that period between 1987 and 1997 was pretty special. I remember watching the Never Tear Us Apart video on MTV in 1988 and I remember being in a hotel … Read More
Lost Islands of Prague Every city goes through redevelopment, it’s just one of those things which comes with city life and Prague has been through it’s own share of changes. This is a post about the lost islands of Prague. It’s @1850 and there’s a new Emperor on the throne called Franz Josef. There are … Read More
Prague National Museum, Architectural and Cultural Icon I could tell you that it is a neo-Renaissance building that opened in 1891 but as thousands of other sites will tell you the same thing wouldn’t you like to hear something new like how the museum ended up being built here, what it replaced, why in the … Read More
Trafika or Tabak for Buying Tobacco in Prague A Trafika or Tabak is a newsagent that also specialises in the sale of tobacco and tobacco related products. If you are a smoker in Prague then you’ll have your favourite Trafika. Like Herna Bars, trafika shops took a big hit in 2017 when a nationwide internal … Read More
St Nicholas Church Old Town Some buildings in Prague are so old that nobody is really sure exactly how old they are. St Nicholas Church Old Town is one of them. The best we can say is that the original church is “likely” to have been built in the 12th Century but the oldest documented … Read More