Top Prague Attraction – Municipal House At the turn of the 20th Century the Austro-Hungarian Empire was weakening. In Prague you could see this with different architectural projects that incorporated very Nationalist and in our case, Slavic designs. The name “Municipal House” might lead you to think that this was going to be some grand … Read More
Famous Czechs – Alfons Mucha Alfons Mucha is one of the most famous Czechs but in a strange twist of fate if you look him up in Wikipedia you’ll find that although he was born just south-west of Brno in 1860 he was technically not born in Czech. When he died in Prague in 1939 … Read More
Slav Epic Part One – Introduction and Location The Slav Epic is a huge piece of work whether you look at it from a perspective of the number of paintings i.e. twenty, the size of the paintings (6 of the paintings would cover the front of a terraced house in England, including the roof), the … Read More
Slav Epic Part Two – Paintings 1 to 5 This post explores the detail on paintings numbered 1 to 5 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 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 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 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
Fantova Kavarna at Prague Main Train Station Prague very much has a cafe and artistic culture to go along with an impressive history so what better place to combine all three than at the Fantova Kavarna (Fanta’s Cafe) in the historic part of the main train station. A Potted History The original Prague main train … Read More
Prague Lucerna Passage – Cultural Gem The first time I came through the covered Lucerna Passage (it sounds like “lootserna”) was the summer of 1996 about a week after arriving in the country. I think we were trying to find an American pub but we had no map, no smartphones, we didn’t speak Czech and … Read More
Prague Art Nouveau – A New Kind of Art Prague has become synonymous with Art Nouveau even though in my experience people, at first glance, get Secessionist and Art Nouveau mixed up. In general, on the external side you can spot Prague Art Nouveau by looking for organic decorative features. Trees, flowers, branches/vines and fruit … Read More