Europe Trip Day 12: Part 2 of Prague, Czech Republic

Wednesday morning, March 26, we got up, prepared and ate our breakfast, and  set out to explore the city more on our own. We ordered food from the hostel during our stay there to prepare and eat in our convenient kitchenette. Our suite was actually quite nice for a hostel. It wasn't fancy, but we had lots of space. In fact, our suite was divided into two rooms, which was unexpected but particularly nice.

Our hostel room included a convenient kitchenette

There were a number of places we hoped to see in greater detail that we had learned some about on our tour the day before. For example, we wanted to see the famous astronomical clock as it went off! The clock was installed in 1410 and is the oldest astronomical clock in the world that still works. As the clock chimes, two doors open allowing viewers to see wooden figures representing the twelve apostles as they circle around. Below these doors on either side of the clock are the figures of Vanity looking at himself in a mirror, a miserly Jew holding a bag of gold, an infidel Turk, and the skeleton of Death, who carries and hour glass while tolling the bell, reminding the other figures that time is passing and death is approaching. Meanwhile, the other three figures shake their heads signifying that they are not ready to die. Below these figures are four more stationary figures representing virtues: a chronicler, an angel, an astronomer, and a philosopher. As the tolling comes to a close, a rooster at the top flaps his wings and crows, and then the bell chimes the hour.

As our tour guide had explained to us the day before, legend has it that Master Hanuš was responsible for building the clock. The city councilors loved the clock and became concerned that Hanuš would go off and build another clock like it for another European city. To prevent this, they invited Hanuš to the Prague Castle to "see something" they wanted to show him. Suspicious, he at first didn't go. However, being curious, he eventually decided to go against his better judgement. Once there, he was taken, tied down to a chair, and a hot iron stick was used to take out his eyes. He was then let go. However, without his eyesight, he was unable to pursue his normal activities or his career. Depressed, he committed suicide by throwing himself into the gears of the clock he had created, jamming it up and rendering it dysfunctional for a century until someone else came along who was able to fix it.

We also visited a couple of churches. Prague is full of old churches and places of worship. Interestingly enough, many of them are not used as churches any more. That is because, as our tour guide had explained to us the day before, 70% of the population there is atheist. This probably helps to explain the widespread drug use, high alcohol consumption, and other inappropriate pastimes and problems common to the area. Our tour guide had speculated that the high percentage of atheists there has something to do with the volatile religious history of the area. I would also be inclined to think the the Nazi and Communist occupations of the area also were damaging to the religious beliefs of the population given that such totalitarian philosophies discourage any loyalties (including God) being placed before loyalty to the state, and often seek to make the state the "religion" people turn to, so to speak. In any case, many of the churches there have been turned into or at least double as concert halls or museums. Our tour guide even mentioned one church that ironically had been transformed into a bar.

We stopped by the St. Nicholas Church which is currently the worship place of a Hussite congregation. There were a lot of displays inside the church detailing the history of the area, particularly as it pertained to Jan Hus and the Hussite Church.

Jewel thief's mummified arm

We also visited the Church of St. James. A couple of interesting stories are associated with this church. Count Vratislav of Mitrovice was accidentally buried alive inside the church when he was really only unconscious. After his burial, people could hear noises coming from the tomb, which they attributed to the count's spirit not being able to find peace. They sprinkled the tomb with holy water. After a few days the sound went away. Several years later when the tomb was opened, they found the the count's remains outside the damaged coffin. This church is also famous for the mummified arm hanging near the tomb. The story is that a thief tried to steal jewels from the statue of the Virgin Mary on the high alter. Mary grabbed the thief's arm and held it fast, and monks had to cut it off in order to release the thief. The arm was then hung as a reminder and warning to other potential thieves.
 

Inside of St. James Church

Next we decided to explore the Jewish Quarter, previously known as the Jewish Ghetto. This area of the city has a fascinating history in and of itself and is home to what probably the oldest Jewish community in Bohemia. It is believed that Jews settled in the area sometime during the tenth century. Over the years they experienced periods of great persecution as well as periods of prosperity and relative freedom. At some points in time, Jews were only allowed to live in this section of the city, and it is said that at one time 18,000 Jews were crammed together living in this small area. It was actually renamed Josefov in 1850 in honor of Josef II, the Holy Roman Empire who guaranteed the Jews a number of freedoms in 1781. About 90% of the Jews from Prague died during the Nazi occupation. Paradoxically, this area today boast one of the best preserved Jewish Ghettos in Europe with one of the best collections of Jewish artifacts thanks to Hitler, who planned to make it the “Museum of an Extinct Race.”

Old New Synagogue

The legend of the Golem is a well known tale from Prague's Jewish Quarter. Our guide from the previous day told us the legend. There are a number of variations of the tale, but basically Golem was a creature created by Rabbi Loew from clay along the banks of the Vltava River during the reign of Rudolf II. The rabbi then brought Golem to life with special Hebrew incantations. The purpose of Golem was to protect the Jewish people in Prague's Ghetto from those wishing to harm and/or expel the Jews. The Golem had a shem, which is a paper with the name of God written on it, put into his mouth. This shem brought him to life, but it had to be removed for the Sabbath so the Golem could rest on that day. One Friday evening, Rabbi Loew forgot to remove the shem, and the Golem went on a destructive rampage. Rabbi Loew decided that it was time to put a stop to the Golem for good, so he removed the shem and the Golem was destroyed. It is said that the Golem rests in the attic of the Old New Synagogue. Prague's Golem actually provided the inspiration for Mary Shelley's novel Frankenstein.

The Old New Synagogue is also the oldest active synagogue in Europe. The tale behind its name is also interesting. It is said that the stones used to build the synagogue came from the Temple in Jerusalem "on condition" that they will be returned when the Messiah comes. The words for "on condition" in Hebrew sounded similar to "Old New" in English, and the English version stuck.

We didn't go inside the Old New Synagogue, but we did visit a number of other synagogues in the Jewish Quarter, most of which had been turned into museums. We walked through the Pinkas Synagogue, which serves as a memorial to Jews who were killed during the Holocaust. The walls inside are covered with the names, birth dates, and death/deportation dates of these victims. We also walked through Prague's Old Jewish Cemetery after visiting a museum about it and Jewish burial customs. It is against Jewish law to remove tombstones or destroy Jewish graves, but space in the Jewish Ghetto was very limited. Consequently, graves were built up on top of each other for centuries in the cemetery. There are twelve layers of graves and somewhere around 100,000 burials there. 12,000 tombstones are currently visible.

Last of all before lunch, we went to the Spanish Synagogue, which was quite elaborately decorated inside with golden Islamic-style gilded patterns. No pictures were allowed from inside (although there are a number available online for anyone wishing to see some), but there were lots of displays about the history of the Jewish Quarter and the persecutions faced by those living there, which were very interesting.

Spanish Synagogue

 

The Metronome

After that, we returned to our suite for lunch before walking up to the Metronome, which was installed in 1991 where an enormous monument to Stalin had previously been. The Metronome sits in the center of Prague up on a hill overlooking the city, so it is a great place to go for a good view.  There is a skate park up there too. We really enjoyed the afternoon on the hill walking along the sidewalks and enjoying the spring flowers. It felt nice to be out of the crowds and surrounded by greenery instead of buildings for a change.

View from the Metronome

Panoramic view from the Metronome

We also headed over to the Hanavský Pavilion, from which there is a great view of the Vltava River with bridges spanning across it.

Hanavský Pavilion

 

From there we continued back down the hill and to the Charles Bridge. On our way there we noticed there were lots of swans along the river bank, which was fun to see. The Charles Bridge was started in 1357 and finished at the beginnings of the 1400s. It replaced another bridge that had been badly damaged due to flooding. The Charles bridge provided the only route across the river in the area without a boat until 1841, which also made Prague an important trade route between Eastern and Western Europe. The bridge is lined with thirty statues and has towers on either end.

Statue of John of Nepomuk

The statue of John of Nepomuk is interesting. As our guide had explained to us the day before, John was the court preist of Wenceslaus, King of the Romans and of Bohemia. It is said that when John of Nepomuk refused to tell the king what sins his wife confessed, the king had the priest thrown into the river where he drowned in March 1393. John of Nepomuk became known as a national saint of the Czech Republic. He is the patron saint against calumnies and the protector against floods. Below his statue of two reliefs: one of the queen confessing in which a knight is petting a dog, and one of the priest being thrown into the river. Touching the dog in the relief is supposed to bring bad luck, while touching the priest in the other relief is supposed to bring good luck.

We were able to catch the sunset from the bridge, which was very picturesque. From there we shopped a little in the souvenir shops and got dinner before retiring to our suite.

Sunset from Charles Bridge

National Museum & Wenceslas Square at Night