Jachymov Work Camp When you meet a Czech communist nowadays and you try to engage in some discussion about what the Czech communists did to non-communist Czechs in the 1950s there’s often this defence about “not everybody was executed, many only went to work camps”. Let’s take a look at one of those places, specifically … Read More
Famous Czechs – Olbram Zoubek Olbram Zoubek is not a name that will crop up in many guidebooks. He has certainly left his mark on the country and one town specifically (and it’s not Prague) but tourists will wander past at least two of his public works in Prague without realising. Olbram Zoubek was born … Read More
Plague Columns You’ll walk past these as you wander through Czech towns and cities. Here I’ll point out the two Prague Plague Columns related to the Bubonic Plague outbreak in the early 18th Century. They will have a strong religious connection and are giving thanks for the ending of a bad period of suffering. In … Read More
Jan Palach Square – Namesti Jana Palacha If ever there was a place in the city that highlights why names of locations change over the years it’s the current Jan Palach Square. The names used here include it’s location, its function, a prince, an empress, two composers, a communist name and a memorial. It’s a … Read More
Memorials – The Prague Castle Obelisk Consider that the original idea for a simple memorial plaque to Czechs and Slovaks killed in World War One would end up with hundreds of tons of granite being mined, the military involved in transporting different versions and the final version installed in a different place than originally intended. … Read More
Prague Streets – Ovocný Trh (the Fruit Market) Trh is an easy word to recognise in Czech as it means “market”. So the word in front of it should give the game away i.e. ovocný means “fruit”. So Ovocný Trh means Fruit Market but historically this area of the Old Town was much more than … Read More
The WW2 Prague Uprising A frequent question on my walking tours is whether the centre of Prague was bombed during World War Two because it looks so old. I answer this question more fully on my World War Two Walking Tour but in summary, yes it was bombed but no the majority of any damage … Read More
Memorial to the Victims of Collectivisation When you take individual private companies and bring them under State control that’s called Nationalisation. When you take an entire sector of production under State control that’s called Collectivisation. In post-1948 Czechoslovakia the theory for agriculture was that as the State now owned the company or the land it … Read More
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
WW2 Memorials – Josef Skalda There are thousands of memorials in the city and a large number relate to events and characters of World War Two. As I was passing this particular memorial I happened to notice that there was a lot of detail with a word that I had never seen before – SŤAT. … Read More