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the art nouveau style tomb of the novak family in prague's vysehrad cemetery

Vysehrad Cemetery

Exploring Prague’s Vyšehrad Cemetery It’s not normally on many people’s top ten list of things to do in Prague unless 1) you like cemeteries, 2) you like art/design and 3) you know something of Czech culture. But for some people a trip to the Vyšehrad Cemetery will be an interesting and rewarding experience. I’ll show … Read More

mordecai maisel ohel in prague old jewish cemetery

Mordecai Maisel

Famous Czechs – Mordecai Maisel Mordecai, Mordechaj or Mordechai, Maisel, Meisel or Meysel. There have been several interpretations of his name so I’m going to stick with Mordecai Maisel (fun fact: in Yiddish, Maisel means mouse). Let’s put ourselves in the last half of the 16th Century. Emperors Maximilian and Rudolf II have been kind … Read More

poster for an alfons mucha exhibition at the prague waldstein riding school

Famous Czechs – Alfons Mucha

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

prague manes exhibition hall with blue sky framed by trees as viewed from slavonic island

Manes Exhibition Hall

Mánes Exhibition Hall The Mánes Exhibition Hall, or to give it its full name “The Building of the Mánes Society of Fine Artists” is on the riverside one block up river from the National Theatre but if you aim for Slavonic Island you’ll see the large white building from the main road. In Czech, Mánes … Read More

czech 19 korun postage stamp with the graphic image of film director milos forman

Milos Forman

Famous Czechs – Miloš Forman Ask the average person what film directors they have heard of and it will be a pretty short list including Alfred Hitchcock and Steven Spielberg I imagine. Now ask your average Czech person and they’ll probably reel off a dozen names off the top of their head without even thinking. … Read More

jaroslav drobny receiving wimbledon mens singles trophy in 1954

The Egyptian Who Won Wimbledon

The Egyptian Who Won Wimbledon – Famous Czechs – Jaroslav Drobny If you are wondering what possible link there can be between Prague and an Egyptian who won the Men’s Singles Title at Wimbledon then read on because it’s an interesting story. You won’t find the name Jaroslav Drobný in many history books but look … Read More

a representation of jan zajic on a czech national flag

Famous Czechs – Jan Zajic

Famous Czechs – Jan Zajic To set the scene you have to understand that the August 1968 invasion of Prague by Warsaw Pact countries extinguished the Prague Spring freedoms. Any political or social reforms were cancelled and Czechoslovakia regressed to its 1950’s state. As was increasingly common in the late 1960s, the method of the … Read More

Karel Hašler playing a guitar statue on the Prague Old Castle Steps

Karel Hašler

Famous Czechs – Karel Hašler Every year thousands of people are walking up or down the Old Castle Steps at the back of Prague Castle and at the top of the steps they walk past (and briefly look at) a sculpture of a man with his legs crossed, leaning against the wall and playing a … Read More

prague cafe louvre interior with customers and waitresses serving tables

Prague Cafes – Cafe Louvre

Prague Cafes – Cafe Louvre I often tell the story that in the early days with my wife when we stopped at Cafe Louvre she would say “that’s the former foreign minister” or “that was the chief of police”. By the time I looked around I would just see the back of somebody’s head. But … Read More

jaroslav rona bronze sculpture sitting devil on the old town square in 2017

Jaroslav Rona Sculptures

Jaroslav Rona Sculptures Born in 1957 you could say that by the age of 15 Jaroslav Rona knew that he wanted to be some kind of artist. He applied to various arts schools and was rejected so having completed his basic 9 years of education he enrolled in a 3 year vocational school to train … Read More