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slav epic, the coronation of serbian tsar stepan dusan, slavic legislation

Slav Epic Part Three

Slav Epic Part Three – Paintings 6 to 10 This post explores the detail on the paintings numbered 6 to 10 in the Slav Epic series 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, … Read More

Slav epic, the defence of sziget by nikola zrnski

Slav Epic Part Four

Slav Epic Part Four – Paintings 11 to 15 This post explores the detail on paintings numbered 11 to 15 in the Slav Epic series 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 … Read More

Slav Epic by Alfons Mucha, the Oath of the Omladina Under the Linden tree

Slav Epic Part Five

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

memorial to the prague jewish garden cemetery shaped like black gravestones

Prague Jewish Garden

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

split graphic with a black and white picture of a cross on the left and on the rights taken through a wire fence are spray painted scenes of life in the gypsy camp 1

The Pig Farm

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

a black and white artistic sketch of the face of franz kafka

Franz Kafka

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 new town

Prague Tourism Sign Posts

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

scene showing michael hutchence from the never tear us apart video filmed in Prague

Prague and INXS

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

a 17th century stone water tower next to a czech street sign that translates as the way to the new mill

Lost Islands of Prague

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

upward shot of the neo-renaissance Prague National Museum on Wenceslas Square with fountain in foreground

Prague National Museum

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