Prague Blog

The original Old Town City Hall was severely damaged at the end of WWII, after it became a target of the German occupation army during the Prague Uprising in May 1945. It was set on fire and had to be taken down. Since then, plans for a new building were in motion.

They were in motion even before the event, to be precise. The original building was not considered terribly interesting and it was not convenient enough to contain the offices of the Prague bureaucracy. At the beginning of the century several competitions have taken place and more were to follow.

One of the most remembered projects is the one by Josef Gočár form the 1909 competition. The modernist seems to have allowed his fantasy a free way and suggested a pyramid- like monument inspired by cubism, in a style that might have inspired some later art deco architecture. The project is interesting to have a look at and it is likely it was meant rather as an intriguing idea than something likely to be constructed. It would be enormously expensive and it just couldn’t fit the surroundings- it might look appropriate somewhere near The Chrysler Building, not on the Old Town Square.

The later projects offered many options. There were somber, neo- whatever and conservative. There were some very bizarre ones, like one 1988 project of building a cable railway from a newly built station at the square and leading it as far as to Letná. One can hardly imagine how costly and how ugly would that be.

Since the fifties, there were several very ugly propagandist projects, for example a wall, which would serve for film projections during major manifestations and some undignified attempts for something resembling the Kotva mall on Náměstí Republiky.

Now the city has decided the case should be solved at last. The reasons are obvious. The City Hall is apparently a torso and the park that covers the space today doesn’t make much sense, it creates sort of a square- within- a square. A new, tenth competition is supposed to take place this year and it is likely it will be international. Personally I’m curious how an international architectonic competition will go after all the confusions and endless delays of the National Library project, but one never knows.

The normalization era that followed the 1968 invasion is a bitter part of Czech recent history. The “Prague Spring” made Czechs hopeful that a change is possible, the subsequent events made it clear that they will not decide for themselves. The following years were, in this sense, desperate.

The underground movement emerged among the disillusioned, who saw there is no point in attempting to reform the party, join the artist organizations, unions etc. They chose not to challenge the system head- on, or they decided not to challenge it at all. Soon this incoherent, anarchic sector attracted the anti- regime intellectuals, often those who were forced to confront the system in 1968, who sought to challenge the state of affairs in a non- violent way.

Poets, thinkers, musicians, journalists, former politicians, artists… people with different opinions, who shared maybe some kind of ethos and mainly interests. It wasn’t a movement really, it could, in a way, resemble the sixties movement in the US, without the optimism and without explicit politics. Mostly they tended to create king of small oasis of free expression, counterculture, open debate. In a democratic system they should not mean any damage to the people in power.

But this regime tended to make enemies. The Czech underground was not primarily political. Mostly the bands, the artists simply wanted to be left alone. There was no single political affiliation. There were democratic liberals, monarchists, socialists etc. What held them together was a demand for freedom of expression- and the regime’s ongoing idiotic persecution. This is also visible in case of Slovakia, where the formerly apolitical environmentalist movement gradually turned anti- regime, because the regime felt need to persecute them from the very beginning. However it made some sense: the system was so centralized it simply couldn’t cope with any non- state activities. Independent activities undermined its authority.

The most prominent names are Vaclav Havel and The Plastic People of the Universe. Havel always tried to speak for rights, for principles, even as president he wanted to be seen as a man unconcerned with power or influence. The Plastic People reflected the dead of normalization in nihilistic- sounding alternative rock music, influenced heavily by the Velvet Underground.

The reasons why Havel and other dissidents joined the Plastic People campaign, after the band was arrested, were political. Like many other dissidents he probably did not enjoy the music itself, that being pretty hard to enjoy while sober: all kinds of noises, Egon Bondy’s intentionally banal, often extravagant poetry, melodies breaking down. The message was clear though: no matter what we do with our voices and instruments, the state has no right to interfere. The fact that id did, absurdly, by arresting the band and starting an anti- Plastic campaign (calling them “assassins of culture”) underlined the twisted nature of the regime. The regime proving vividly that it would not respect the right of freedom of speech, although it pledged to by signing the Helsinki Treaty and so encouraged all the different formations into a kind of unity.

The most important things to know about the Czech dissent and underground is probably that they based their claims on principles of human and civil rights. They did not form a program, they completely renounced any form of violence, they did not even demand a regime change. All they asked for was respect to the rights the regime itself pledged to respect.

There were many activities, the most well- known being the Charter 77 and VONS (something like The Committee For Support of the Unjustly Persecuted). Both were based on regular publication of facts about any faults, mistreatment, unlawful practices the regime carried out.

As for the Underground, there were many other bands like, for example, DG 307, which soon turned to a more arty, atmospheric style, leaving most of the noise and anger behind. There were people who established connections between the two spheres, mainly Ivan Martin Jirous (“Magor”- The Madman), an extravagant poet who was very much behind the politicization of the underground scene and the rise in attention paid to it by the dissidents. The restrained scholarly part of the movement was represented and inspired mainly by philosopher Jan Patočka, who died in relation to an exhausting series of interrogations by the Czech police.

The fall of the regime was rather a result of the changes in the Soviet Union than of the dissent’s activities, some former underground and/or dissent protagonists attempted for a political career. Mostly with little success. With the exception of the first president, who also remains a controversial figure for many.

On 10th of April started an interesting exhibition in the Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague. It presents the choice of work of Christopher Dresser, the very important persona of design history. This man is often considered as the first significant designer at all. In the second half of the 19th century, there was a broad movement, which aimed to raise the aesthetic standard of objects that surround people in their everyday life. Those aesthetic standards were considered to be low, mainly because of the industrial production. That is why many participants of this movement tried to return to handiwork and old style of manufactures. On the other hand, Christopher Dresser fully accepted the industrial devices and modern manufacturing methods and he was designing objects that were then manufactured in modern ways. That is why is considered as a “pioneer of modern design” as says the subtitle of the exhibition. His significant designs of metal teapots, soup tureens, toasts racks and other objects became very famous and his “handwrite” is easy to be recognized here. But he did not design only metal objects, but also pottery as well as furniture or wallpapers.

Dresser was also very interested in botany and in investigating botanical natural laws, which then reflected in his work. And what is very important, he visited Japan. Japan was a country, which was for the long time completely closed to Europeans. When it finally opened its boarders, its culture was extremely fascinating and inspiring for Europeans. Dresser came here for few months, was welcomed by the emperor himself, and studied here Japanese Art and culture and was also an advisor in the questions of modern trade. Then there obviously was a strong Japanese influence to be found in his work, some of his designs even were direct copies of Japanese originals.

The current exhibition in the Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague is focused mainly on presenting smaller metal objects – table implements, which are designer´s most famous works. In them, he achieved a purity of shape so they are until now recognized as timeless symbols of modern design. And so if you have a bit deeper interest in design, this is something you should not miss out.

The exhibition is opened until 8th of June. The museum´s opening hours are from 10 am to 6 pm from Wednesday to Sunday and until 7 pm on Tuesdays, closed on Mondays. The museum is best accessible from Staromestka public transport stop – metro A line, trams 17 and 18 or bus number 133.

Many people know that the Czech Republic used to be in the some state together with Slovakia – in Czechoslovakia. Some people even still did not realize that those states are not the same one any more and the term “Czechoslovakia” still says much more to them then “the Czech Republic”. The truth is, that bigger part of the 20th century spent Czechs and Slovaks in the same country.

Czechoslovakia was founded in 1918, when it declared its independence on Austro-Hungarian monarchy. It was rational to put those states together, because this way the new country was stronger, bigger and of more population so it was easier to get independence this way.

Czech and Slovak languages are very similar, except very few different words (which were often subjects of jokes), it is very easy to understand each other. So it was easy to declare both nations as brothers and to live in one democratic state together, also with a Ruthenia, today the very western part of Ukraine. The capital was in Prague. It worked quite well until 1938 as this period was later often recognized as the “gold times” of Czechoslovakia. But in 1938 Sudetenland was annexed by Nazi Germany and the former democratic republic quickly turned into a state with loose connections between Czech, Slovak and Ruthenian parts. During war years, 1939 – 1945, it was de-facto split into Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia and the Slovak Republic. But interesting fact is, that de jure Czechoslovakia still existed, with its exile government based in London.

After the war, Czechs and Slovaks lived in one country again, in 1948 the communists took the rule, which was a start of another totalitarian regime in the region, and this one lasted, sadly enough, over 40 years. The country was officially named the Czechoslovakian Socialist Republic. In 1969 it became a federation, consisting of the Czech Socialist Republic and the Slovak Socialist Republic. In late 1989 came the Velvet revolution, and the long communist was finally over. In the beginning of 1990 the state was declared as a federal democratic republic consisting of Czech Republic and Slovak Republic. But it did not last long.

In the first day of 1993 Czechoslovakia was split in two independent countries. Because Slovakia wanted it, but as there was no referendum about it, it was not really will of its people as of maybe too ambitious politicians. So Slovakia got independence, it got new flag, new money and capital in Bratislava, and most of all – a new government. But the parting was peaceful and not really dramatic. So regardless the parting,

Czechs and Slovaks are still very good friends. There is a lot of Slovakian both students and workers in Prague. And if Czechs and Slovaks meet abroad, they still keep being friends, understanding each other, knowing same books, movies, singers, they still lived in one state for quite long. And recently, there was an interesting investigation, whose authors asked Czechs, which nations they like the most (well, accept themselves…) and who do you think won the first place?

According to recent news, more shopping malls are to emerge in Prague over next months. It brings one to the question of heavyweight commerce in the Republic. What serves as a source for the current predictions is a press release from INCOMA Research Group, considering the state and prospects of shopping centers in the CR.

The group just announced results of a large- scale survey they conducted. The main statement is that the “hypermarket” sector is growing and about to grow. There are currently 250 shopping centers, fifty of them containing at least fifty different retainers. The most powerful part of the market are said to be clothes, shoes are second, computers third.

Anyway, what matters for us Prago-centrists is that Prague hosts 38 percent of the centers. Speaking to people in their forties, you would be stunned by the changes the republic has gone through, concerning commerce. Today it’s hard to believe that some twenty years ago a whole slab block estate would be supplied with one middle- sized grocery store. Now the same area is often surrounded by several supermarkets and in case that would not be enough, there’s a hyper- one within reach.

Few years ago, two young filmmakers caused quite a controversy with Czech Dream, a documentary on a fake hypermarket campaign. Although the fact that ordinary people were used as unwilling participants on a sort of performance is questionable, it did shed light on a phenomenon. One could call it market culture or buydiction, whatever, I mean the tendency to experience the process of buying things as a highlight one one’s week, the best way to spend free time. It is not uncommon that families go on a ‘trip’ to a shopping center and spend an afternoon in the whirlwind of shops. Looking at things, trying them on.

It’s probably sad, but the past has shown that no acceptable way of regulation on people spending their money is at hand. The last thing a state is supposed to do is to tell people how to spend their free time.

What can be talked about is the question of wasting: food, plastic etc. The food chains might adjust their strategy so that large parts of their (over-) productions wouldn’t have to be thrown away for not being sold in time. But that’s another matter.

Not sure whether it ever was Prague’s dream, she will get more giant shopping centers. Two this year, seven more in foreseeable future. One thing’s for sure: if your idea of a good day out is going through various products in carefully designed surroundings, Prague will be at your service.

A few days ago, a group of activists (what a broad term) decided to point their finger at the Communist Party in a way that drew some attention. They dressed the Vitkov- placed statue of Jan Zizka in a t- shirt with a “I won’t bear another totalitarianism” sign printed on it. In Czech the sign is somewhat smarter, but it would be difficult to translate.

The group behind the action calls itself Decomunization, a sister term of the widely- used Denazification. No wonder they draw a parallel between the Nazi regime and the Communist one and they advocate an approach towards the Czech communists based on the German post- war strategy: banning the party and trying its main figures at court.

It’s a question of individual taste whether one likes or detests such a form, anyway it draws attention to a painful question of Czech contemporary history. The Czech society did not find a way to deal with its Communist (or Real- Socialist) past.

Firstly, the argument whether the regime may be compared to Nazism is far from resolved. Both opinions have strong advocates with powerful arguments. The question is all the more difficult depending on the way we state it: should we compare the Soviet Communism and Nazism or should we speak only about Czech Communism and Nazism? One of the difficult points is that should we take the radical way and declare the 1948- 1989 regime a system similar to Nazi terror, it would mean that nearly every family was partly involved in collaboration and the guilt would be almost unbearable.

Beside the theoretical argument there’s the physical state of things, which is what the decomunizers are complaining about.

After 1989 nobody really knew what to do about the Party and its members (there was just too many of them).The question was not resolved. It’s not only that even the most “obvious” criminals avoided punishment. The problem is there was not really any model, any road taken. The nineties suffered a split personality in this question. On one hand nothing really was done in the juristic field, on the other, major media often tended and still tend to portrait everyone who ever was a party member as a criminal. Many ordinary people felt insulted and degraded, though they personally did no harm to anyone. The power holders, in contrast, were left untouched, the Party structure staying similar, including the name (slightly changed by including Moravia). Once in several months there comes a Great Revelation that an actor or a singer we all know from the TV is on this or that list of contacts of the Czech secret police. Hardly anyone says a thing about what the person really did and why we all need to know it nearly twenty years after the Velvet Revolution. And the Party still keeps its ten percent presence in Parliament, carrying out mostly unproductive, declamatory policy and causing trouble during every coalition- building.

I don’t by any means want to summarize the whole of the problem, for this is too complicated a question. It is an unresolved, difficult one, and has been somehow marginalized in the nineties, partly because there were other problems, mainly the economy. It didn’t fade away, these things don’t fade away, they wait any number of years until they are confronted.

The dressed statue is only the latest in a line of events, which attempt to draw attention to the question, usually to the very existence of and support for the Communist Party. My problem with these would be that it is already accompanied by a radical position on the problem, so it doesn’t really provoke a debate on the nature of the regime and the majority’s complicity on the fact that it survived for forty years.

From 20th of March until 25th of May 2008 the Gallery Rudolfinum presents a comprehensive overview of the famous American photographer Gregory Crewdson prepared by the curator Stephan Berg.

Crewdson´s photographic work deals with American neuroses, fears and secret desires. His images refers directly to the myths of American Hollywood movies, so as well as scenes for those movies were scenes for those images, as well as make-ups for models prepared in a cooperation of a whole big crew. The crew had over 100 members and before the picture was shot, it took the long time of preparation. One of Crewdson´s favorite film directors is David Lynch, and as well as Lynch´s movies often have dreary and mysterious atmosphere, the similar atmosphere have a lot of photographs presented on the exhibition.

The exhibition presents all Crewdson´s most important photographic series he made since 1992 until presents, all of them are in large format and in color, except one, which is black and white and in smaller format. Plus there is a special collection of 11 small size photos, took during the work on “big ones”, primarily as a documentary material, but according to Crewdson those he chose have an aesthetic quality on their own and as such are worth to be exhibited.

If you want to see extremely precise photographs, where every bit of the photo is perfectly sharp, with perfect lightings, arrangement of the scenery and so on, you should visit the Rudolfinum Gallery these days. The Rudolfinum is located on Jana Palacha Square, close to Malostranska and Staromestska metro stations.

Do you enjoy going to restaurants? Do you enjoy having a cup of coffee with your friend? Do you like new, stylish and trendy environment? Do you like healthy and vegetarian meals? Do you want to experience a new different restaurant concept in Prague? Then Sahara Café is the right choice for you.

This place is an unusual, cozy and chill-out restaurant situated at Namesti Miru 6 in Praha 2. This nice restaurant is conveniently located near the centre at the metro stop Namesti Miru (line A). If you come to this restaurant after your busy day at work, you will immediately feel relaxed. While entering Sahara, you spot a Buddha statue that welcomes you. You will be seated in comfy sofas or nicely designed chairs with pillows. The soothing music will fulfill your senses and you will feel like you entered seaside restaurant at Ibiza. Sahara Café is definitely not a typical Prague’s restaurant, this café is a specifically well-designed concept that you will fall in love with. You will often want to come back and chill-out for a while. The service is not the best I have ever experienced. However, the quality of the service would be considered among better ones here in Prague. You can order from variety of meals including Arab dishes, salads, main courses and healthy meals. The quality of meals is outstanding for very good prices. There is a great variety of wines and cocktails offered to guests. However, wines are a bit pricey. Cocktails are tasty. You can not forget to visit the bathrooms downstairs which are rather specific too. Before you enter the bathroom, you will see big aquarium with nice little fish. In the bathroom, there are two big mirrors above the bathtubs. The mirrors are just so stylish. Therefore you have to experience Sahara bathroom as well.

You will be surprised how time passes fast in Sahara and suddenly you will have to leave this place and return from the fairy tale to regular busy life in Prague. But you will remember Sahara and you will stop by next time!

There is a funny argument taking place, considering the Prague public transport and the Czech legislators.

There is a successful, relatively cheap and convenient private transport company called Student Agency. This company is interesting not only because in its ads the name is pronounced by the rules of Czech phonetics instead of English ones. It managed to bring havoc into the field of inter- city transportation by setting up a competitive environment.

Czech legislators are guaranteed free transport by the state. As the law was passed at the time when all transport companies were state- owned, it doesn’t say what should a private transport company do if a legislator decides to use its services for free.

That is why Student Agency’s director, Radim Jancura, decided to bring the question to court and the court decided just the way he wanted: a private enterprise does not have to serve our MPs for free.

Now there’s a problem: there are those who say that Prague DPP (the Prague transport company) is a private enterprise so the MPs, when they do use the system, should pay for a ticket like anyone else. And if they don’t, they should pay the fine, like anyone else. It seems perfectly sensible. But the Czech MPs obviously consider paying couple hundred crowns a month too large an investment, or they feel it would be degrading for a member of Parliament to have his transport ticket checked. They just don’t like the prospect.

At one moment it seemed they would be pressed hard by the city magistrates, but at this moment the action seems to be losing momentum. After suggesting that the DPP should fine MPs if they use the system without paying for a ticket, the Prague magistrates seem to be backing down, leaving the author of the proposal Markéta Reedová alone in the field.

The whole theme of MPs’ advantages has become a joke in the Czech Republic. Not only are the salaries and, mainly, various compensations and special payments still rising. The funny thing is that the vast majority of MPs, when asked separately, support the idea they should be paid less and, mainly, to be less subsidized. But when they arrive in parliament the motions never get passed. How could that happen? Most of them say that they did vote for the motion. Or they wanted to but couldn’t because there was a clumsy formulation in paragraph 5 line 86, but they are very much for the idea and always were and always will be and are eager to support the next motion that comes. Miraculously that one gets scrapped as well. And this goes on and on and on, year after year, motion after motion.

The money is not the point, the numbers are negligible. I wouldn’t even say it’s a matter of some great principle. It’s just pathetic, that’s all.

Confectioner´s is in Czech language called “cukrarna” The word “cukrarna” is derived from “cukr”, which means sugar and signifies a place, where you can sit down for a while and enjoy some delicious sweet cakes and pastries.

Something like a cafeteria but people come here primarily not for coffee but for sweets, which are not necessarily to be eaten there, but can be also wrapped and brought home. “Cukrarnas” are pretty popular in the Czech Republic and there are a lot of them. In the April issue of the magazine Apetit, dedicated to eating and cooking, were published the results of the contest they did – they tried to find the best “cukrarna” in the Czech Republic.

And they decided, that according to them, the best “cukrarna” of all Czech ones is in Prague. It is called Alchymista and is located in Jana Zajice Street, number 7, in Prauge district Letna, close to the Sparta stadium, which is on the tram stop Sparta (numbers 25, 26, 1, 8 and 15) and also in walk distance from metro station Hradcanska (green line). The Alchymista won the contest because of its lovely interior, cheerful staff, summer garden and the most importantly for its amazing cakes and delicious coffee. The best cake they offer is said to be the one, which is made of figs.

But there were also other two Prague “cukrarnas”, which made it into top 10. One of them is located in Na Pěšině Street nr. 40, Prague 8 and is on the list especially because of its delicious yolkey fried cakes – “věnečky”, which are one of the most popular Czech sweets. The second one in top ten is French Au Gourmand, which is not typical “cukrarna”, but is its chocolate cakes are lovely. And this one is located in the city center, in Dlouha Street.

But there are of course more and more confectioner´s in Prague, which are worth of visit. In the magazine, they recommended also Lemon café in Prague 6, Erhartova cukrarna in Prague 7 (in Milady Horakove Street, not far from Alchymista), which is in the newly reconstructed functionalist interior of 1930´s, as well as Nebeska cukrarna in Prague 5 and Sladka Monika in Vlkova Street Zizkov area in Prague 3. But there are many and many other nice confectioner´s in Prague, maybe you will discover the special one for you.