Slav Epic

So, after six days, we reluctantly left Prague, already beginning to feel pressured and rushed by the impending expiration of our Schengen time and with two more big cities, Vienna and Budapest, before us. We did take time to stop off in Moravsik Crumlov--Moravian Crumlov (there's a Bohemian one too)--to see Mucha's massive Slav Epic paintings.

The Slav Epic has been displayed for some years in the

castle at Moravsik Crumlov

Not particularly well signed, but, at length, we found it

Going on in the park next door was a drumming marathon

and concert that evening

Drumming stage

Drummers drumming their drums

The castle itself is a bit of a fixer-upper

Original sun dial, no doubt

But it has its charm

Mucha willed his Slav Epic to the Czech

people and Prague, on the condition that

Prague build a suitable venue for it; Prague

continues to try to get the paintings, to put

them up in an old palace somewhere;

Moravsik Crumlov and the Mucha family

continue to fight the move; the matter is

presently in the courts; taped on the door

here is an injunction forbidding the removal

of the paintings; stay tuned, the Moravcsik

Crumlov people say

Anyhow, here are two of the twenty paintings (off the web;

there is a no pix policy); they are indeed enormous, 20 by

30 foot canvasses, originally made for ships' sails

The paintings are quite moving, even if, like

us, you don't know much Czech or Slavic

history; you can see more if you like by simply

searching "Mucha Slav Epic"