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30 foot canvasses, originally made for ships' sails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"

Prague Miscellany 2

Vicki at the Kafka statue

The sidewalks throughout the old city are of

brick, often with intricate designs; it's a

labor-intensive process with a beautiful result

The lower escalator at the Mustek subway station is one of the

longest I have seen and is certainly the fastest--twice, I'd say,

the speed of normal escalators; here's Vicki being whooshed

upstairs

How Czech public television plans to improve its ratings

Not sexist, though

Prague Miscellany 1

Miscellaneous shots from Prague

Our campground, out on the west side, near

Trebonice; the Stanik family has run the

farm for 300 years, and their campground,

not quite as old, is perhaps the best we have

stayed at in Europe, small, but amply

featured, convenient to the city, and the

most helpful and generous staff we've

encountered

Hare krishna, with amplifiers and headphones, on the

Charles Bridge

The pissing match statues near the Kafka Museum; one of

the world's more interesting water features; you can control

their actions (some of them) by sending text messages...

The Kafka Museum itself; Kafka stuff is all over Prague

One-way alley with traffic signal

Holy Finger, on the Charles Bridge

Marionette theaters and shoppes are all over

the old town

One popular marionette

Church of St. Nicholas, Mala Strana

We had planned to skip this one--how many Baroque churches do you have to see?--but it was right across the street from a restaurant we liked, and something told me it was worth the (modest) admission fee.

St. Nicholas from street level

Interior; knock-out Counter-Reformation

Baroque to the hilt

Altar

Impressive dome

Nave ceiling

Organ

Interesting pose, Vicki thought

Skewering another Protestant

Hradcany Castle

It's way too large for a photo, built in the Middle Ages, and added on to since.

But first, today's wedding photo shoot shot, in the castle

square (we see one nearly every day)

The Czech crown, etc.; hasn't been used for quite a while

Interior of St. George's Basilica, a 10th

century chapel on the premises

The basilica itself

View out the state rooms' windows (the usual no pix policy

enforced)

The view: the domes and roof of St. Nicholas', in Mala

Strana, below the castle hill

The Moldau and Charles Bridge below

The City of Spires, it's called

Ditto

St. Vitus' Cathedral

St. Vitus' is in the Hradcany Castle complex, on the west side of the town, on a hill over-looking the Moldau. Parts of the castle go back to the 11th century or earlier. St. Vitus took some 600 years to build, started in the 13th century, finished in the 19th. It is quite large and high, with beautiful windows and scultpure, very much the national cathedral of the Czech Republic.

West facade and towers; flaming Gothic, as

you can see

Interior

Beautiful windows (Mucha's the best, we

thought; see earlier post)

Stained light on the floor

Ceiling; note tracery at top of windows

Tomb of St. Vitus; the original church was

built around it in the 10th century

A royal tomb

Rose window

St. Wenceslas chapel

East side, buttresses, spires and tower