# Bohemian Section at the Austrian Exhibition, Earl's Court London 1906/The Royal Capital of Prague

When throwing a stone through a window in Prague you throw with it a morsel of history.
Count Lützow: The Story of Prague
THE ROYAL CAPITAL OF PRAGUE.
Grand and beautiful, full of splendid palaces, spacious monasteries and green gardens „matička naše Praha“ (our dear mother Prague) extends along side of both banks of the broad river Vltava rejoicing in the picture of her beauties reflected in the water’s mirror as a lovely woman would conscious of her charms and attractions.
And high above the town beyond the endless tiers of tiled mansard, roofs with dormer-windows and gables there rises like a picture woven into a magic veil the pink silhouette of sacred „Hradčany“ the proudest mediaeval acropolis, enveloped in the charm of a glorious past of great events, which it was fated to witness.
And beneath this splendid castle amidst the sea of houses, amongst which, like fresh oases in the desert of grey masonry, gleams the soft and warm green of widespread parks and gardens, rise high into the air the venerable edifices of many churches, the numerous spires and towers of which point to the sky like the full-eard stalks of a field of wheat, watching over the masses of buildings at their feet.
Farther still on the very outskirts of the splendid town, in the pinkish mist of the southern and eastern horizon the eye perceives the soft outlines of majestic Vyšehrad as if it were rising out of the silvery waves ​of the Vltava, further on, the heights of Vinohrady and the mount of Žižkov, the slopes of Vysočan and Prosek. Beyond these at a greater distance gleam in the golden sunshine crop-covered ridges of hills, and yet farther again, towards the left, the top of Ladví, the brownish rocks of Bráník with the dark background of the pineforest near Modřan; beyond them the high hills of Zbraslav and Závisť are rising out of the forests on both banks of the river Vltava while in the foreground is seen, the dark green ridge of Petřín, with the line of Charles’s „Hunger-wall“ to the south, while on the opposite side nestles with its spires the monastery of Strahov amidst the green of shady gardens on its slopes.
All this forms a picture of enchanting beauty a fairyscene of marvels the dream of a Bohemian’s soul, „the“ town of all Slavonic towns THE CITY OF PRAGUE.
Urbem conspicio fama quae sidera tanget! (Libuša's prophecy.)
It is no wonder indeed that from time immemorial the most famous travellers considered and declared the „golden“, „the hundredtowered“ city of Prague to be one of the most beautiful cities of the world on account of its picturesque situation on both banks of the river Vltava and on the slopes of seven surrounding hills as well as for her many historic and artistic monuments.
Already at the beginning of the twelfth century the first Bohemian historian Kosmas praises it enthusiastically. He wrote the words of Libuša’s prophecy quoted above. After him, in the XVth. century, Aeneas Silvius (afterwards pope Pius II.) calls Prague the queen of towns. Enthusiastic are all the opinions of the travellers who visited Prague in the last and in the present century. The great German poet Goethe calls Prague „der Mauerkrone der Erde kostbarste Stein“, the famous German traveller Humboldt puts it in the fourth place amongst the most beautiful European towns and the renowned French geographer Elisée Reclus calls it one of the most beautiful towns altogether.
And the Prague of former times was more beautiful still, as it was seen even in the fifties of the XIXth. cen​tury by the most renowned Gothic architect Viollet-le-Duc, who speaks of its beauties as follows: „On aperçoit à travers des toits aigus de la ville basse les longues lignes horizontales de la vieille cité convertes de monastères et de palais entremelés de jardins magnifiques. Ce n’est pas par la pureté des details que brillent les monuments de Prague, mais par l’ampleur et un certain air aristocratique qui n’éclate pas le pittoresque.“
Then he appreciates in warm words its unusual historic and architectural importance by which it surpassed even the much vaunted Nuremberg. He says: „Prague est bien une ville du moyen âge, belle, bien percée couverte d’edifices énormes à cheval sur une grande rivière et couronnée par une acropole, qui conserve l’aspect d’une vaste citadelle gothique avec son enceinte des murs suivant les sinuosités de la colline qui lui sert d’assiette. Nuremberg malgré ses richesses architectoniques fatigue par la multiplicité des details; les edifices les uns sur les autres, petits dormant sur les rues ou des places peu étroites, ne permettent au regard de se réposer nulle part. Il semble que l’on a voulu dans cette ville reunir sur un seul point ce que l’art du moyen âge a pu enfanter; c’est un magasin de bric à brac plutôt qu’une cité.“
Greater still is the enthusiasm, with which the well known French aesthetic and critic William Ritter speaks about Prague in a letter which he sent to the magazine Lumír in 1899. He mentions Viollet-le-Duc’s love for Prague and speaks for himself: „When Viollet-le-Duc knew Prague it was such an admirable town, that every stone of it would have deserved a separate description. If Ruskin had not been so much occupied with Florence, Venice and Amiens, he might have written three volumes with the title „The Stones of Prague“ and there would not have been on the surface of the earth a more beautiful book of history and architecture. There may be books beautiful perhaps in other respects but none would be more beautiful in this particular.“
In the same way the Danish writer George Brandes was struck with the beauty of Prague; and the famous sculptor Rodin calls Prague very properly „the Rome of the North“.
​But Prague is well known and renowned not only for its beauty, but also for its important position as a seat of art and culture. It was once the capital of Central Europe and in Charles IV. time the seat of the first university of Central Europe and possessed the first botanical garden. In Rudolph’s age it was famous as a town containing the most valuable collections, and for the splendour of its court and for the pleasures it offered, it was considered the Paris of Central Europe. Prague is the cradle of modern journalism: here the very first news-paper of the world was published (in the Bohemian [Czech] language). It was also here that the first systematically arranged exhibition took place (1791). In this city Mozart composed his opera of Don Juan, which in the history of music must be called an epoch-making event.
And yet Prague shares in many respects up to the present the fate of towns which live on the renown of their former better days!
Prague has ceased to be the residence of its kings therefore also ceased to be the object of the Austrian government’s solicitude. From within her walls the life and bustle of a residential town has vanished and with it the influx of foreign guests has stopped. The town began to be degraded by all sorts of malicious and unfounded aspersions and began to suffer financially and economically; it looked already as if it were to share the fate of other famous towns of Europe, such as Ravenna, Aquileia, Bruges, Ghent, Avignon, Florence and Venice.
But the reviving strength and power of a nation sound at heart and proud of its glorious past, self-reliant and conscious of what it was able to accomplish, did not allow Prague to fall so low, and by unwearied efforts raised it to a worthier position.
Nobody in the kingdom of Bohemia, much less in the empire of Austria in the sixties of the XIXth. century would have dared to anticipate or to predict the present flourishing state of Prague. But what to the most sanguine enthusiasts at home seemed to be a mere dream, did not escape the sharp eyes of the foreign observer. It is again the famous Viollet-le-Duc, who in the fifties, at the time of the fiercest persecution during Bach’s era of ​absolutism foresees the future rise of Prague and sees in the city the capital of a great rising nation, saying: „Mais Prague est une capitale, dans laquelle on sent la puissance d’un grand peuple“ and these prophetic words really came true. Prague is actually holding up its head again.
By its own strength and helped by the efforts of its own sons it opened like a rose of Jericho, as it were, by miracle into a fair flower and rose to all its former grandeur. It became not only the capital of all ranks of the nation aspiring to the highest degrees of culture, but it became also what it was in the days of its glory a centre of art.
And we trust the time is not far distant, when by redoubled energy, discipline and honesty, free from foreign influence the Bohemian nation will win for its royal Prague peacefully by its own genius and by weapons of intellect alone that importance and glory, of which whole generations of the past dreamt visions in joyful anticipation.
We propose to lead the reader through a small but interesting part of Prague—namely—the Staré Město (Old Town), across Charles' bridge and farther on by the Malá Strana (Small Town) to Hradčany (Castle Town) and back again, to some at least of the prominent monuments of Nové Město (New Town) with the aim of presenting a general sketch of a fragment of Old Prague, one of the most interesting townships which have been preserved from the dark middle ages to our days. The reader we hope will be enabled, to form a tolerably correct idea of the beauty of Prague in general, of her characteristic streets picturesque squares and palaces, surrounded by old gardens and ornamented by ascending terraces, loggias, pavilions, and salla-terrenas, which offer the finest views of the hundred towers, red-bricked roofs and walls which form the attractions and charm of the ancient capital.
Unie.
POWDER GATE.
It is to be regretted, that of this once splendid royal residence, the place of which in after years was taken up by the archbishop’s palace and seminaries, and later still by a military school for Cadets, not one stone is now left upon another. In this square of monuments of past years, only one other remarkable edifice is left which will interest especially visitors from Great-Britain.
It is a church of the Virgin Mary secularized in emperor Joseph II.’s time, formerly belonging to a monastery of Hibernians, in which one of the chief altars was devoted to the patron-saint of Ireland St. Patrick. Only the facade of this church remains as of old and forms, in spite of a certain soberness of outline and decoration, or perhaps in virtue thereof a very affective feature at the entrance to the finest street of Prague, the Moat (Přikop).
Unie.
OLD TOWN SQUARE.
A few steps only divide us now from the memorable Old Town-Square (Staroměstské náměstí) the chief attraction of which is the old renowned Town-Hall. It presents a beautiful sight from the end of the Celetná street or from the Týnská lane where we stand at the corner of the interesting house „u Zvonu“ (Bell-house).
Here rises up proudly the high spire of the townhall, once the belfry of the old town, now of the whole city, with a fine gallery which offers a free outlook on all sides. To the left of the tower on the opposite side there is a row of well built houses remarkable for their arcades which are generally a characteristic feature of Bohemian towns, and in Europe are only met with in northern Italy. The high gables of these houses, adorned with pillars,vases and statuettes form a beautiful adjunct to this picture, which by its arrangement and by the particulary local, Prague-like character cannot fail to make a lasting impression on the mind of every visitor. There are not many squares in Europe, with the exception of England, whose history is as rich in great events, as that of this public square of Prague, which was the scene of one of the bloodiest spectacles in modern history, the execution of the 27 chiefs of the religious rebellion of the Protestant Estates against Ferdinand II. in 1621. This event produced powerful commotion in the whole of Europe and particularly in England which at that time had cause to be interested in the kingdom of Bohemia by the fact that the „Winterking“ Frederick had the English princess Elizabeth for wife.
But this square had been both before and after this ​event the centre of public life in Prague, the scene of all grand and sad events bearing not only upon the history of the city but upon that of the whole kingdom, in no less a measure than the royal castle itself, because the Hall of the Old town took part in evererything that concerned the entire nation, especially since the castle had ceased to be the residence of the Bohemian kings.
The Hall in its oldest part close to the tower was founded in 1338 when a house that had originally belonged to Welflin od Kamene, was enlarged by adding the tower, in which a beautiful chapel (consacrated later in 1381) was formed and a splendid gothic projecting window added, ornamented with various coats-of arms and beautiful sculptures. The Hall contains also two ancient session-rooms with rich gothic ceilings which were added in the king Wladislaus’ prosperous times when also a fine gothic porch was built and the tower further adorned by the far-famed Prague Horologium. Other additions, also in the gothic style, date only from the last century, but it must be admitted that they suit the ancient character of the Old town Square. The northern side of it is partly taken up by the monastery of St. Paul’s friars, later on used as a minting house, the only ancient edifice left in this region of the square, while all the other interesting houses fell victims to the assanation of the city.
The eastern side is better preserved in its ancient appearance. Here the attention is attracted by the palace of the counts Kinský, a fine work of the Prague architects Kilian Dienzenhoffer and A. Luragho, the latter of which designed the façade fo this remarkable building from the middle of the XVIIIth. century, showing already decided rococo details. A great contrast to this palace is the adjoining simple, but by its original Gothic gables all the more picturesque house of the former Týn-school from the XVth. century (at present the house of the parish offices of the city).
A very interesting prospect of attractive old burgher houses is seen from the porch of the Town-hall at the southwestern side of the square. Here, quite hidden by the arcades of the houses, is the entrance into the ancient ​narrow Melantrichova ulice, formerly called Sirková, which name was changed into Melantrichova to honour the renowned old printer and publisher of the first Bohemian printed books in the second half of the XVIth. century: Melantrich z Aventina. This entrance is a regular prototype of a mediaeval unconspicious junction of a side-lane with a large square, and like the labyrinth of lanes near Týn a regular European unicum. The adjoining houses, the one of the Minuta, which is a part of the Townhall block and is adorned with a lunetted cornice (from the first half of the XVIth century), then the next building with a turret window, forming the corner of the next free space, as well as the opposite house, „at the Prince“, which also has a jutting-window surmounted by a little spire of a now secularized St. Michal’s church, form a picturesque narrow passage by which the Old town Square is divided from the following Malé náměstí (small market place). This has the shape of a triangle and is surrounded by old narrow and very high houses, some of which have arcades and all are very interesting. In the centre of the place there is a beautiful renaissance fountain a master-piece of smithwork from the XVIth. century. In former times flowers used to be sold in this very lively market-place. At the western corner of it we enter a very winding narrow street leading to Charles’ bridge, which (beside the Celetná in the Old town, the Mostecká and Nerudova in the Smaller town) is very likely the most ancient and interesting street of the old city of Prague. It is the Small and Large Charles’ Street (Malá and Velká Karlova ulice). Also here we pass interesting formerly patrician houses, adorned with fine renaissance and baroque façades. The finest among them is No. 156 at the corner of this and Huss’ street which has beautiful Gothic gables and forms a fine „point de vue“ of this highly picturesque cross-street. Only a few steps further to the right we come to the palace of Count Wenceslaus of Clam a dark but grand-looking building, both as to dimensions and as to sculptural ornaments which were the work of the highly-gifted Bohemian sculptor Braun. The palace is a chef-d'-oeuvre of Fischer of Erlach the designer, a pupil of the Prague baroque-school. It is one of the most remarkable palaces not only in Bohemia but in ​the whole of Austria built in the style of the XVIIIth century (1712—1719).
It is a pity that it does not stand by itself and that the streets in its vicinity are narrow with tall houses on both sides.
OLD TOWN’S BRIDGE TOWER.
Adjoining the library are the spacious rooms of the archiepiscopal seminary for secular priests with two very remarkable refectories (for summer and winter) which are adorned by frescoes and stuccoes similar to the library-hall. In the larger one of the two, the winter-refectory, an exhibition was held in 1791 by the Bohemian Estates and it is on record that this exhibition was the first large exhibition of industrial productions ever held in the whole of the civilized world. From the archiepiscopal seminary we stop out in to the Křižovnické náměstí (Square of the knights of the Cross) by a high archway which is now provided with a beautiful railing. From this gate we obtain a view which is one of the rarest in Europe. The eye first meets the grand and costly edifice of the Bohemian kings of the Luxemburg dynasty a unique example of architecture in Europe, then the Staroměstská věž mostecká (Old town’s Bridge-tower) through the high arch of which we obtain glances of the soft outlines of roofs and spires of the Malá Strana (Smaller town) and above them like a vision in a dream hovering in the spacious air the majestic edifices of the Royal castle, while in the foreground we see the sharply defined dark outlines of the bronze statue of the founder of the university and builder of the neighbouring bridge Charles IV., the „Father“ of his country; abowe which, on the right hand side, rises high the gigantic green cupola of the church belonging to the monastery of the Bohemian knights ot the Red Cross.
Further on we come to the Bridge tower itself, whose ​façade, towards the Old town is particularly rich in ornamentation. The statues of the patron saints of the country and of its kings, Charles IV. and Wenceslaus IV. the builders of this tower in the XIVth. and XVth. century, numerous gothic ornaments, bizarre supporters, knobs and finely formed phials and chaptrels, and the coats of arms of all the countries which belonged to the Bohemian crown under the reign of the Luxemburg dynasty adorn the tower all united in a beautiful whole like a poem in stone. The inside painted ornaments of the tower are are also interesting samples of Bohemian painting in the beginning of the XVth. century. That the building was finished under Wenceslaus IV., is proved beyond doubt by the emblem of a halcyon-bird within a wreath, the symbol of bath-keepers, which recurs five times amongst the ornaments together with the figure of a girl in white representing Susan a bathkeeper’s daughter (the sweetheart of Wenceslaus IV.)
To the left of the tower far down below the arches of the bridge rises from the ruffled surface of the mill stream the very original and characteristic group of buildings of the Old-town-mill and waterworks, the latter with a slender gothic water tower the original of which was founded as far back as 1489 but was burned down and rebuilt several times, the last time in 1884. The new water tower and works of the town, were built in 1883 and 1884 by J. Wiehl the well known Bohemian renaissance architect, and are ornamented by beautiful sgrafitti the subject of which is the „defence of the old town by Bohemian students against the Swedes in 1648“, which took place on the Charles’ bridge. The pictures are excellent works by prof. Frt. Ženíšek, an artist who cultivates the purely Bohemian style.
We have now actually stepped upon the famous Charles’ bridge, one of the most remarkable structures in Europe not only on account of its antiquity but also on account of its design and artistic character, and above all because of its beautiful situation.
Charles IV. founded it in 1357 not far from the site of a former bridge which was also built of stone by Judith, the queen of Wladislaus II. as far back as 1167 but had ​been destroyed in 1342 by a large flood. Charles’ bridge took many years in building and its architect appears to be unknown. (It is only an unauthenticated supposition, that the builder was Peter Parléř the architect of St. Vitus’ cathedral.) It is however certain, that the bridge was finished before the Hussitic wars broke out; but the bare structure only was then completed without the statuary and other artistic ornamentation. It was only at the end of the XVIIth. and the beginning of the XVIIIth. centuries that two statues of saints were placed above every arch. These works having been presented by different people and carried out at different times by eminent sculptors and being very well preserved, transform Charles’ Bridge into a grand open air gallery of saints’ statues, certainly the only gallery of its kind in the world. It is the subject for wonder of all religious people of the Bohemian crown and of all admirers of art and is an art treasure perhaps without its equal in the whole world.
But it is not only the unusual interest and artistic value of these statues, which impress the mind of the beholder, but also the enchanting beauty of the surrounding scenery which enhances the impression. Moreover the great difficulfy with statuary design—the problem of finding fitting pedestals appears to have been solved here in a masterly way. The multitude and variety of forms, the boldnes of design in this respect must surprise even a non-artist. From the simplest outlines of the sober gothic taste which reigned in the beginning of last century to the exuberant luxuriance of the baroque and rococo styles almost all degrees of development, as it progressed through nearly three centuries, are here represented in the different groups of statues. It is very likely on account of this variety of forms that the long row of statuary does not tire the passer-by, be he a refined connoisseur or merely a man of humble calling. Thus it is that the splendid productions of Braun: St. Luitgard and St. Ivo, the most beautiful of the existing works of this sculptor, also the master-pieces by the brothers Prokov (the Holy Trinity, St. Francis Borgias and both the statues which were badly injured by the flood in 1891 and have not been re-erected yet, St. Ignatius Loyola and St. Francis Xaverius) ​or again the sober but finely executed productions of Emanuel Max, together with the richly decorative statues by other Prague sculptors as Jerome Kohl, Ulric Mayer and Boehm—all appear here in undisturbed and sober harmony. All this worth is, so to say, a visible sign of triumph and a memorial of the victory of antireformation, a memorial built up gradually in an artistic manner in the course of almost three centuries, and commanding admiration even from the adversaries of the antireformation movement. Before the XVIIth. century the ornaments of the bridge were few. There was a devotional pillar, two or three very insignificant statues, and a cross originally made of wood, but in 1648 replaced by a stone one, presented by Ferdinand III. and this is still standing.
It bears a Hebrew inscription put up at the cost of a Jew in 1696 as a punishment for mocking this cros. The group was completed in 1836 by two side-statues being added representing the Mother of God and St. John the Evangelist both by E. Max.
In the middle of the bridge, between the statues of the Holy Trinity and of St. Norbertus is a small marble slab adorned by a brass cross and a nice baroque railing, marking the place, from where, according to the legend St. John of Pomuk, the father confessor of Wenceslaus IV. wife Queen Sophia, was hurled down into the river; and not far from this spot the bronze statue of St. John of worldwide renown stands above one of the bridge-pillars. From this point, the bridge takes a considerable downward gradient towards the (Malá Strana) Small Town.
Unie.
VENISE ON VLTAVA.
It would be hard to tear oneself away from this beautiful picture, if in front of the beholder did not open another sight of equal attractions: a group of grand old trees, whose great branches clothed with many shades of green, embellish the isle of Kampa, lying far below the level of the bridge.
Close to the pillar of the bridge where it touches this isle on the left hand side under the double statues of St. Vincent and St. Prokopius, in fact, on a sharp edge of the pillar itself there stands a rare symbol of the middle ages, the period that produced Charles’ monumental work: the statue of Bruncvik; or rather Roland, in the picturesque attire of a mediaeval knight, bearing the coat of arms of the Old town and an unsheathed sword in its hand. There are many quaint stories afloat about this statue; in reality it was once the symbol of the staple and duty-right of the community. The original of the statue is in the Town Museum, a modern reproduction of it stands at the pillar of the bridge. Close to it we remark; in the gable of the first house, which stands on the isle of Kampa, a small balcony railed in with a nicely wrought iron paling within which there is a picture of the Virgin Mary, surrounded by a wreath of flowers and before it an eternal lamp burning a light for those that are in the throes of death.
A great contrast to this sign of simplicity and unsophisticated religion is the opposite grand sculpture of Braun: St. Luitgard as she in a mystic dream clings to the side of the crucified Saviour, and He with one of his hands released from the cross bends down and blesses the blind saint who embraces His knees. Another splendid view is seen from this spot, the baroque mansards of the palace of the Counts Bouquoy, the dark apsis of the church of the knights of Malta overshadowed by a gigantic plane-tree, ​above which we behold the still higher gable of the church of St. Mary Victoria; and beyond that, the steeps of Petřín (St. Lawrencius hill).
And again the scene changes. Down below our feet rushes the lively stream, amidst parks and gardens, past mills and picturesque houses. Under the next arch of the bridge, a branch of the Vltava river, called Čertovka, and above the arch, rises the only marble statue of Charles’ bridge St. Philippus Benitius, whose white robes form an effective contrast to the dark exterior of the surrounding houses, the walls of which seem to rise perpendicularly out of the water; a dream of Venice on the Vltava, which calls forth the admiration of all visitors to Prague.
From this spot we hasten to the bridge towers of the Small town, casting a passing glance at a beautiful group of statues by Prokov representing the saints John, Ivan and Phillip, and at the most popular of the statues not only on the bridge, but perhaps in the whole kingdom of Bohemia the „Turk of the Prague bridge“, which forms part of the very original pedestal of the group. Opposite to that, stands another interesting group of saints: Cosmas and Damianus, dedicated by the medical faculty of the university of Prague, the background of which is a fine renaissance building, the house „of the three ostriches“. Here we enter into the shadow of the double bridge-towers. The high arch of the entrance gate is flanked on both sides by towers of quite a different shape and age. At first sight the higher one of the two, with turret, at every corner seems to be of earlier date than the neighbouring one which has a sgrafitto—adorned rustica, and gable of an evidently renaissance—style. This lower spire, is of 1249, and an original remnant of the old stone bridge built by queen Judith long before Charles’ bridge, while the higher spire at the right side was begun in the second half of the XIVth. century, finished roughly in 1407 and finally completed only in the middle of the XVth.
The space between the two towers forms the gate; the middle part of which is roofless, in front and at the back it is spanned by gothic arches; above which there are galleries with battlements and barbacans. The smooth masonry of the slender right-hand spire is adorned with ​a projecting cornice with tapering turrets high octagonal saddle-roof, which is so typically characteristic of the Bohemian gothic style.
In the frame of the second arch on the opposite side we behold a picture of rare beauty: the Small town-Bridge-street (Malostranská ulice k mostu), full of narrow interesting houses of a dark Prague tint with contrasting red tile roofs of the most bizarre shapes studded with fantastic dormer-windows, mansards, gables and balustrades, adorned with blackish vases, moss-covered statuettes of the most excentric baroque formation.
And beyond these dark masses of masonery, red roofs, projecting eaves, gargoyles, and whitish chimneys, looms in lively green, the gigantic cupola of St. Nicolas’ church, so grand and majestic; that the first sight, almost takes our breath away. And higher still above the summit of this majestic dome reaches the clock-tower of the church, a structure of fine design. The whole edifice, dome and tower, is a very embodiment of the proud and ostentatious order of the Jesuits, who knew how to make even art subservient to their further aims. This dome and tower will ever be to us a visible symbol of the victorious Roman Catholic anti-Reformation, which tried to compensate, at least by outward splendour, and by the promotion of art which had always been cultivated in our country, for the heavy sacrifices and losses endured by our nation during the bloody strife that had to be fought for the final victory of the Roman Catholic views over those of the Protestant faith.
The history of this Bridge-street lying before us, is not at all uninteresting. The very first house on the left side built in the renaissance stvle and adorned with picturesque gables, now called „u Steiniců“, formerly the „Saxon“ house, is worth notice. In the time of Charles IV., Rudolfus, duke of Saxony resided here, and latterly it was the refuge of William I., elector of Hessen. The opposite house „At the three bells“ has to this day, the remains of a tower, which is the last remnant of the „Bishop’s court“ which used to be fortified by moats, walls and towers.
Deport & Panzer.
BRIDGE-TOWERS OF MALÁ STRANA.
Equally effective, is the view towards the northern side of the square, which has a row of arcades. The house at the east corner (No. 8) next to Thomas’ street boasts a fine turret-window with sgrafitti; next to it stands the original palace of the Counts of Sternberg, with a large picture of the Virgin on the wall, and with a terrace. Further on, to the west is the huge Montag-house, formerly the palace of the now extinct barons ze Smiřic, built in the characteristic renaissance style of the XVIIth. century and ornamented with two turret windows and a tower in the courtyard. This side of the square is on the whole and in all details so original and peculiar to Prague, that the most experienced traveller will not be able to recall having seen anything like it before.
The east side of the square is not so well preserved; the general effect is greatly marred by the tasteless new building, of the Saving-bank (Malostranská záložna). But even here, the fine baroque house No. 37. a work of Dienzenhoffer and the former Hall of the Small-town its beautiful ornamentation which dates from the XVIth. century, makes a fine artistic impression although the arcade of the former Hall si now filled up. A fine contrast to this is effected by the opposite building, formerly a Jesuit College (of the XVIIth. century), now the house of the Upper Court of Law for the kingdom of Bohemia. It is a colossal edifice of great outward dimensions but of very simple details, and rises like a gigantic block above the lower surroundings. Still, neither its extent nor simplicity of detail, is from an architectural point of view out of place in this very lively neighbourhood; its quiet walls have a good effect in the variety of forms at the northern and eastern sides of the square.
Through the long row of shady arcades at the southern side, filled with historically interesting houses, we now proceed to the Upper square of the Small town (Horní Malostranské náměstí). Here we see the former fine Senftenberg palace, now the house of the Chamber of Accounts. Next, the building of the chief Military Commando, ​formerly the palace of the princes of Lichtenstein; later of the Counts of Ledebour. But the chief point of attraction is the splendid Nicolas’ church, the most beautiful baroque building of central Europe north of the Alps, one of the chief works of the two Dienzenhoffers, Christopher and Kilianus, father and son, the famous masterbuilders of Prague. The building of this church extended over a period of forty years, from 1711 to 1751, and the slender spire was only completed after the death of the younger Dienzenhoffer in 1756. It is a sacred edifice of gigantic dimensions, the interior of which is as finely designed as the exterior, ornamented with real and artificial marble, with frescoes and sculptures, all productions of Dienzenhoffer’s contemporary Prague artists. It is an enchantingly beautiful part, just under the majestic dome, which is splendidly lit from all sides and is altogether a masterpiece, only possible in the baroque style.
Stepping out of the church we behold on our right a new enchanting view, the white façades of the Royal castle, above which rises the patina-green top of the brass covered spire of St. Vitus’ Cathedral the quaint outline of which has become inseparable from the picture of Prague. In the middle of the square there stands the bizarre pyramid of the Holy Trinity or the „pest memorial“ built by the Italian architect John Baptist Alliprandi, a memorial of the frightful plague which visited Prague in 1715.
If we now proceed from this group only a few steps towards the north-west corner of the slowly-rising square where Castle-street (Zámecká ulice) comes down, we get another really surprising prospect of the steep and crooked Neruda-street which in the middle-ages bore the name of Krokvicova, and until quite lately of Spur-street. The whole aspect is more original and characteristic than even the Celetná or Mostecká streets, it exhibits some of the finest specimens of the Prague baroque-style. And it can be truly said, that in no other place; not only of Europe but of the whole world are so many perfect varieties of this style to be found together, as in this unique street. Wide vistas, with views of several extensive palaces, and between them the narrow high façades of smaller ​burgher-houses make this street a perfect and instructive exhibition of baroque and rococo architecture.
There is in the first place, the palace of the Counts of Morzin (now Černín) with handsome statues and balcony borne up by two black giants, a work of Prokov’s. Also the opposite palace which on the whole is simpler but has a very effective façade (it formerly belonged to the Counts of Slavata, now to Count Thun the late prime-minister of Austria) is worthy of special notice, as the joint work of the Prague architect Anselmo Luragho and the Italian Scotti. It is ornamented by a fine rustica and a fine porch, supported by gigantic eagles, which together with the ornamental stair-case are the work of Mathew Braun, the designer of St. Luitgard on the bridge. Not far from this, in a spot, where many years ago stood the first castle gate with a moat before it, the street is very much narrow and flanked by a whole collection of very interesting old houses beginning with the Redemptorist church of St. Cajetanus. Passing the interesting corner-house (at one time the property of baron Brettfeld, at the end of the XVIIIth. century, a professor at the university and kind host of Mozart, Da Ponte and Casanova) the walls of which rise perpendicularly from the stairs of the St. John’s steep mound, we pass on higher to No. 233, in which Jan Neruda, the father of modern Bohemian literature, spent his youthful years. The street was named after him. It is a small unpretending house and a strong contrast to the opposite grand palace the beauty of which may have inspired the mind of the poet with love for the charms of his native town, the constant theme of his highest praise. This, the palace of the Princes of Schwarzenberg, rises here like a castle in a fairy-tale above the lower houses of Neruda’s street; and above the narrow stripe of fresh green gardens at the foot of the Royal Castle. Its black and white sgrafitti and its high typical gables above the rustica, form an effective contrast to the dark red pantile roofs of the buildings below. And under the steep walls of this palace turning to the right slowly ascends the broad road leading to the Castle, while to the left, passing the high pillar-props of the palace gardens, broad stone stairs lead in the direction of the adjacent Barnabite-nun’s ​house, the corner of the Toskana-palace. Above the stairs there is an arch, and the whole aspect reminds the beholder of similar picturesque steep streets in Italian towns as Triest and Genoa. At the foot of the stairs there is a simple statue of St. John of Nepomuk, and Neruda’s street is at this point closed in by a fine baroque house (No. 171) „at. God’s eye“, which has been visible already from the corner of. St. John’s Mound. Passing further two nice houses, „at the white swan“ and „at the white stag“ (No. 230 and 232) we arrive at the Castle-town in the picturesque Hollow-way (Úvoz).
This street also is highly original and characteristic, being at the same time steep and sunny, and it may have its equal only in the steep parts of Brussels, Genoa or Edinburgh. For its unusually high houses covered with massive pantile roofs and ornamented with high peaked gables have in this street (which unlike Mostecká and Nerudova is mostly built in the renaissance style) a height in front of sometimes six, or even seven floors, while at the back they reach to the level of the much higher Loretto-square and even there have two or three floors partly over arcades. It is at the same time one of the most ancient streets of Prague and has preserved better than many others its original old character as it was about the middle of the XVIIth. century. Only the smaller houses in the lower part of the street, having been built much later, show the baroque and rococo style.
Unie.
PRINCE SCHWARZENBERG PALACE ON HRADČANY.
Passing St. Elisabeth’s Hospital (from 1664) with picturesque stairs ornamented by a cross and the statues of the Virgin Mary and St. John the Evangelist, we reach the extensive monastery which was founded in 1140 by king Wladislaus, and called even then Mount Sion. In the Hussite war it was broken down, and rebuilt in the XVIIth century along with the adjoining three-aisled church of the Virgin Mary which contains the largest organ in Bohemia and valuable pictures by Bohemian painters. The greatest ornament of the monastery is its splendid picture-gallery containing in addition to works by Bohemian painters, Duerer’s well known Rosary-feast, and paintings by Lucas Cranach, Carlo Dolce, Holbein, Quido Reni and others, kept in a suite of splendid baroque halls which equal in beauty the library hall of the university. The library of the monastery contains a great number of most valuable manuscripts, amongst them some with specimens of old Bohemian miniature-painting of the XIth. century, manuscipts of Tycho Brahe, incunabula by Melantrich and others From the monastery, we pass by the half-gothic church of St. Rochus (dating from the beginning of the XVIIth century) to the Pohořelec, an open space of quite a small-town character, surrounded by small houses, some shingle-roofed and looking at them we can imagine ourselves beyond Prague in a little country-borough.
Quite different is the aspect of the adjacent Loretto-square, where the eye meets the gigantic palace of the Counts Černín with a façade ornamented by Corinthian pillars and with five porches, a splendid work of Francesco ​Caratti, erected in 1668—1704. It looms high above the surrounding low buildings, overpowering everything by its great dimensions. The near walls of the former fortifications, and the roofs of even higher buildings in the neighbourhood hardly reach to the upper cornice of its rich rustica. How small, in comparison appears the little church of the Virgin Mary, that belongs to the idyllic and peaceful Capuchin monastery, the oldest seat of these friars in Bohemia. Above its walls rises the neatly shaped Loretto, beautifully adorned by a slender spire which surmounts the sea of pantile roofs, chapels, and cloisters of the great mass of buildings, erected in the latest renaissance and baroque style, at the cest of Catherine of Lobkovic during 1626 and the following years. In the midst of these buildings is the Loretto-chapel of the Nativity which dates from 1661. The monastery boasts of the greatest church-treasure in the kingdom, the value of which is estimated at millions of florins. One single monstrance of high artistic value contains 6200 diamonds, and is worth 4 millions crowns. But there is a number of other sacred vessels especially of gothic and baroque monstrances of immense artistic and material value, a downright marvel to the visitor; and all this immense treasure is hidden in a corner of a quiet idyllic courtyard, planted with shady lime-trees and surrounded by dark cloisters, the peace of which is only interrupted by the melancholy Ave of the Loretto-chimes, or by the noisy signals and prolonged calls of the military, behind the neighbouring fortification-walls and from the barracks. And again the deep silence occupies the sacred half-forgotten corner as if it were miles away from the tumult of a large town. Quietly and silently the visitor returns to the square and to the arcades which take up all its southern side which gives it the aspect of some remote Italian borough. We proceed now to the left into the Loretto-street, which is narrowed here by a row of interesting old houses with arcades; opposite to these, we see in the wall of the spacious garden of the house of correction, a small chapel on the spot where according to the legend, St. Wenceslaus’ mother, the heathen Drahomíra was swallowed up by the earth. A few steps bring us to the former Trautmansdorf palace which is now used ​as a house of correction, and next to it, the former monastery of St. Ursula’s nuns (now used as barracks) with a fine baroque church of St. John of Nepomuk one of the best works of Ign. Kilian Dienzenhoffer’s. The rich façade of this fine edifice forms the chief attraction of a quiet and even melancholy square „The New World“ the beautiful porch, flanked by caryatides, which reminds us, by all its dispositions, of the porch of St. Nicolas’ church in the Old Town, where Russian church services are held now. From here we return to the former Clam-Martinic palace (now a military hospital) the work of the Italian architect Scotti. The next object we remark is the former Hall of the Castle town a rather low building, but interesting for its gables and rustica, as well as for the porch adorned by an imperial double-eagle. Close to the town-hall in a corner of a completely mediaeval character, under a high arch belonging to the monastery of Barnabite-nuns, we descend the steep stairs of the town-hall leading down to Neruda street. The dark edifice of this most strict and ascetic order of nuns, with its thickly grated windows forms a melancholy background to this otherwise very picturesque corner.
A brighter and more striking sight, is offered by the opposite Toscana-palace which is an effectively built corner of the Castle-town-square; it is in fact not only a corner-house, but fills its whole western side. It belonged formerly to the Counts of Thun, was built in the beginning of the XVIIIth. century. It is of a highly ornamented style, having two dormer-windows in the upper part, and between them a very long and decorative balustrade with many statues. The palace looks down on the square, which by the care of the corporation of Prague was converted into a beautiful grove of birch trees. There is here a nice baroque statue of the Virgin Mary, a work of Braun from 1725. Nearly the whole northern side of the square is taken up with the houses of the Counts Martinic, ornamented by coat of arms and fine renaissance gables and by the quiet canon-houses of the rich chapter of St. Vitus’ cathedral, along with the splendid palace of the Prince-archbishops of Prague, which dates from the second half of the XVIth. century; only its façade is of later date, having ​been built under Archbishop Přichovský by the Prague architect Vlach in the XVIIIth. century. The beautiful palace-chapel, is remarkable for its paintings of the end of the XVIth. century, works of the Bohemian artist Daniel Alexius z Květné. The entrance-hall of the palace has some fine figural sgrafitti from the XVIth. century. Through a little lane which is accessible by one of the arches of the archbishop’s palace house (now an institution for the teaching of idiots) we enter a building that vies in beauty with the palace itself. The lane brings us directly to the porch and court of the Sternberg house which give us an idea of the splendid appointments of the inside. The large halls of the upper floor are covered with beautiful stucco-work with quite a gorgeous ornamentation of frescoes, from a unknown painter, which represents allegorically the heavenly sight, among them the star, the emblem of the family of Sternberg.
We retrace our steps to the square and find ourselves on the esplanade before the renowned old Royal Castle; perhaps the most beautiful spot of Prague, a subject of wonder to strangers and the Bohemian nation, proud of its great and glorious past, an object of national veneration. Before we enter the Castle, let us take a look around the esplanade. In the front, we see upon high pedestals within the railing which divides the inner front-court from the esplanade, Platzer’s powerful statues of the gigantes, and beyond them, Scamozzi’s façade of the castle of the time of Matthew II.; to the right the two Schwarzenberg palaces,—the new, and the older one which dates from 1556, and used to be the proud seat of tbe Lobkovic family. It is adorned with two richly-artic ulated gables, the black filigree ornaments of which have the shape of a medieval fan of reticelli-lace. In the wide space between these objects, there stands in sharp outlinnes, a pillar of the Virgin Mary, close to the spot, where in olden times used to be a chapel of St. Mary of Einsiedeln. Here too we enjoy perhaps the most perfect view of the Petřín. A little farther on, at the very edge of the Castle-approach there is a statue of the patron-saint of the Bohemian nation St. Wenceslas, as if he wanted to bless the capital spreading over the wide dale up to the surrounding hills. From the ​depth beneath the beholder, through the bluish gray veil of the atmosphere of a large town, through the rising and falling mist and smoke we discern the labyrinth of thousands of buildings and larger parks, the red pantile-roofs and the dartlike silhouettes of numberless steeples and spires. And in the foreground of this misty picture ascends the majestic sight of the green cupola of St. Nicolas which we cannot see from anywhere else to such advantage, here it comes into view above the ridges of the Small Town houses. How very small appear in comparison with it, the two bridge-towers, the Maltese-steeples, the Old-town water tower, the group of the Clementinum spires, the red steeples of the Russian church, the dungeon of the town-hall, and beyond these the silvery grey spires of the Powder-tower and the dart-like form of St. Henry’s church-tower. On the right, a little-nearer to the foreground, we see the heavy steeples of St. Aegidius, and farther on across the river the onion-shaped roof of the New-Town water-tower, the New Town-Hall Tower, the steeples of Emaus and those of St. Stephen, St. John in the background, St. Apollinaris, St. Catherine, and the characteristic low, broad dome of the Karlov, beyond which we just preceive the misty silhouettes of the spires of St. Ludmila’s church and the steeples of the Synagogue in Královské Vinohrady.
On a bright day there is also a fine view of the farther country, of the forests of Jílové, Černý Kostelec and Zbraslav, of the spreading plains of Ouval and Běchovice, bordered far away on the outline of the horizon, by the hills of Hradešín.
The eye, dazzled by the soft, warm tones of this wonderful picture, is at a loss where to dwell and rest first: whether on the bluish outlines of the several parts of the town, or on the varying colours of the surroundings or on the white band of the beautiful river winding along on its curving course through the whole scene.
A true royal city, one of the most beautiful in the world lies here before us. Lingeringly we turn away to pass through the spacious renaissance porch of the Castle (dating from 1614) and by its beautifu! stair-case to the first Castle yard, and farther on through a low-arched passage to the second Castle court, which is entirely com​manded by the magnificent Cathedra! of St. Vitus’, one of the most noteworthy gothic buildings in Central Europe, founded in 1344 by the Father of his people, Charles I., and built through many generations by several masters builders; Matthew of Arras, Peter Parler; partly also by Beneš of Loun and others. It contains artistic treasures of immense value, and a church treasury, which in itself is a splendid Museum of medieval goldsmith carving and braziers’ artistic work. This treasury as well as the curious chapel of St. Wenceslaus, the walls of which are inlaid with precious jasper stones, achates, chalcedons, amethysts and carneols have no equal in the whole of Europe. The epitaph of the saint can be seen, as well as his original mail-shirt of the Xth. century.
With the Cathedral vie in importance; not only for the Bohemian nation but also for the history of Central Europe, the older parts of the Royal Castle with the spacious gothic Wladislaus-Hall (which is 68·27 meters long, 19 m. broad) a magnificent work of the Bohemian architect Rejsek z Prostějova, built in 1484—1502. Under the lofty gothic arches of this hall, even tournaments have been fought, and the kings of Bohemia have received here at coronation-feasts the homage of their subjects, and at the banquets, the stewards and cupbearers on horseback waited upon the assembled nobility of Bohemia, who were perhaps the richest and proudest of the whole of Central Europe. The other parts of the Castle, especially its still preserved medieval fortifications, bastions and towers, the old Bohemian Chancery with the former rooms of the landregistry (zemské desky, an institution similar to the Doomsday book of England) makes the Castle of Prague an object of interest not easily equalled by any other. From the old Chancery in 1618, the imperial viceregents were thrown out through the windows into the depths below, and this famous „defenestration“ was the beginning of the 30 years’ war. Then there is the old romantic basilica of St. George, founded in 973 by Milada, the sister of duke Boleslav II., with two, steeples of white masonry, and containing the tomb of St. Ludmila and a series of beautiful frescoes from the XIth. century; the gothic church of the Holy Ghost from the XIth. century with an independent chapter of Canons; ​
A new and beautiful prospect opens as we proceed but a few steps farther. At the very end of the garden, in the middle of the fresh green of a lawn, surrounded by very old yew-trees and cypresses stands the Dudák (Bagpiper) a grand fountain of bronze, a famous work of master Jaroš z Brna dating from 1536, and behind it rises as a pleasing background, the airy loggias, finely wrought architraves and the lengthy green dome-roof of Queen Anna’s Belvedere, the master work of the Italian architect Giovanni di Spazio and Paolo di Stella. It is an artistic monument of the early renaissance-style and by its character a unique specimen to the north of the Alps. It was a splendid gift of Ferdinand I. to his Queen Anna, the heiress of the Jagellonic kings of Bohemia. The fact of its being a gift is also expressed symbolically in one of the loggias, which as to elegance and loftiness have no equal.
From the loggias there is a beautiful view of the fresh Chotek-park below, which is one of the finest public gardens in Prague, is adorned by a small ornamental lake and offers from its beautiful situation an enchanting prospect of the Castle.
Through this park we pass quickly down; first to the serpentine road winding past the Blind-institution (the beautiful chapel of which contains pictures by the best Bohemian artists; amongst them the world-renowned Christ upon the Mount of Olives), and then to the right into Waldstein-street, one of the most chaste and at the same time most aristocratic streets of the capital. There are many palaces and gardens of the Bohemian nobility here, and one of its sides is entirely taken up by the extensive range of buildings which belong to the counts of Waldstein. From the corner of the street there is also a fairylike view of the Castle, of the slopes and fresh green lawns of the ​splendid Fuerstenberg garden which rises in artificial terraces and serpentine walks high up to the Lobkovic-palace, and to its threefold baroque loggia and picturesque balustrade, ornamented by interesting age moss-covered and considerably decorated vases and statues, the dark grey of which contrasts strongly with the lively green of the gardens underneath; as well as with the red masonry of the Castle-fortifications. Above the castle ascend the ridges of the higher Castle-buildings and above these like a splendid crown the Cupola of St. Vitus’, resplendent in the sunshine and surrounded with a whole group of steeples, pyramids and turrets. And in the foreground we see the high jet of a water-fountain, and on the slopes behind it a number of bowers and pavilions contributing to the charms of the gardens, we proceed farther on to the palaces of the counts of Palffy and Ledebour and to the Waldstein-square, the whole eastern side of which is taken up by the Waldstein-palace one of the most splendid buildings of the whole capital, a princely house with the chief façade turned to the Waldstein square. When in the zenith of his fame, not long after the battle on the White Mountain, Waldstein then the all-powerfulc ommander-in-chief of the united Catholic armies; and perhaps the most important personage in the whole of Europe, quickly bought up or by compulsion acquired, 23 houses with spacious gardens, and engaged Italian and Dutch architects under the lead of Giovanni Marini, to build a palace of most gigantic dimensions, worthy of his fame and power, and of the splendour of his court. In this palace assembled brilliant embassies of foreign monarchs and princes, the officers of Waldstein’s armies, the agents of the different political parties and the representatives of diverse courts and governments. For such visitors rows of splendid rooms were prepared, amongst them the large audience-hall taking up two stories of the house and ornamented with beautiful frescoes, in which Waldstein himself is represented as Mars in the panoply of war. With equal splendour, there is at the present time a series of saloons with furniture of Waldstein’s time and with particularly beautiful stoves of faïence bearing the coats of arms of the Waldstein’s and of their relations the counts of Trčka and of Harrach. No less attractive is the ​fine collection of arms and the beautiful chapel of St. Wenceslaus; Waldstein’s patron saint, and the splendid oratory filled with most valuable paintings. Close to the palace is a fine garden and opening into it, the largest Sala terrena known in Europe, with its splendid loggia, grander even than the famous loggia dei Lanzi in Florence, with frescoes representing scenes from the Trojan war, with the heroes depicted in the costumes of the time of the 30 years’ war. From the loggia there is a splendid view upon the old pleasure-garden surrounded by characteristic buildings of the spacious palace, and in the middle of a large bed of flowers there is a fine bronze-fountain, cast from the metal of Swedish guns. To the right of the loggia in the parterre of the palace there is a grotto of artifical stalactites, formerly a bath-room with many water-douches. From this grotto there is a hidden staircase which leads to the astrological observatory in which Waldstein with his astrologer Seni passed many nights trying to forecast his future. Still more interesting is the room at the left side of the loggia, in which Waldstein used to dine in summer. His table and simple but very comfortable wooden armchairs are to be seen there to this day as well as a Persian carpet, used by him. There is a series of interesting pictures of which the most remarkable portrays the famous warrior with his wife, a former countess of Harrach, countess Trčka. The side wing of the palace towards the Waldstein-street was only finished in 1630. Several years before that date, Adrian de Vries designed a row of fine basins and statues for the gardens, among them the ornaments of a large pond adjoining the former riding hall, which was used for knightly games on horseback. The garden in this part is most lovely. from a broad border of yellow and scarlet flowers rise tree-shaped magnolias hiding the surrounding wall which is covered with green creepers. Perhaps still more interesting, is the southern corner of the garden where behind a aviary, adorned with gigantic stalactites, loom some very black old yew-trees, which have witnessed the former splendour and glory of the ducal court, its brilliant festivals and never ending bustle and life. Only the very old ivy-plants the stems of which have attained an immense thickness, are fellow-witnesses of the powerful warrior’s dazzling ​appearance, of the brilliant host of his visitors and the distinguished company of gentlewomen who were the brightest ornaments of this proud house. Now, only the fine architecture of the splendid palace remains, the stone-wrought ornamentation of its porches, doors and windows impressing our minds with some idea of the once princely residence, which up to this day does honour to the memory of its brilliant founder.
Leaving this, we wend our way by the opposite palace of the Auersbergs to the Parliamentsquare. This is one of the quietest and most pleasant corners of the Small-town. It is not level, and the slope is adorned with several acacia-trees. Only a flowing water-fountain with the statue of some saint is wanting to heighten the poetical aspect of this quiet space. To this peaceful group of trees a dark background is formed by the Counts of Chamarée now of the Bylandt-Rheidts. The rest of the square is fronted by a building which having formerly belonged to the „Estates of Bohemia“ is now the session-house of the Diet of the kingdom of Bohemia, an edifice with a sober façade dating from the beginning of the XIXth. century. Bestowing only a passing glance upon the picturesque renaissance gables of the backpart of the Montag-house with its tower, where in 1618 the Bohemian Utraquistic Estates held a conference the eve before the famous defenestration the governors of Bohemia, then giving a look at the fine palace of the viceroy of Bohemia and the government offices with a high baroque porch, we turn to the left into the narrow Thun-street and from it into Thomas-street which is flanked by several beautiful baroque houses with arcades, amongst them the pretty façade of a rather small house (No. 4) adorned with an effective statuary group of St. Hubertus with a stag, probably the work of Dienzenhoffer. In a short time we reach St. Thomas church, originally built in the gothic style, but later, following a great conflagration (1727), rebuilt by Kilian Ign. Dienzenhoffer in baroque. It contains beautiful frescoes by Wenceslaus Lawrence Reiner who at that time was the most sought after of Bohemian painters. Interesting also are the adjoining cloisters of the Augustinian monastery which contain the tomb of the famous latin poetess of English ​extraction Vestonia who after a chequered and not very happy life, found here in Prague, far from her native country, a refuge and last resting-place.
From the same time dates the façade of the neighbouring Prince Oettingen (formerly Lobkovic-) palace (No. 34) which having a baroque ornamentation and being placed so that it is visible from above, from the Neruda-street, and spanning the Letenská street by a picturesque out-built arch, is one of the most interesting edifices of this place. Adjacent is the spacious monastery of the English virgins, an order founded in England by Clara Ward in the XVIIth. century and introduced to Prague in 1747 by a princess Auersberg. It has a small baroque chapel dedicated to St. Joseph of Calasanza, situated in a small garden and surmounted by a diminutive dome; in fact a lantern by which it obtains very good light, great advantage in viewing the beautiful paintings by P. Brandl (from the XVIIIth century), which the chapel contains. The splendid monastery garden covers a great part of the ground which in former times belonged to the Bishop’s Court which used to be in this neighbourhood. The garden spreads between the Letenská and Lužická streets and touches the palaces of the counts of Westphalen, the Princes of Thurn-Taxis and of Windischgraetz. From the Letenská street there is again a fine view of the older part of the Castle and of St. Vitus’ and St. George’s steeples.
The very narrow Paul’s lane brings us from the Letenská in a short time to the so called „Řetězová lávka" (Iron-foot-bridge), which being quite narrow its use is restricted to foot-passengers. From this we see in front, the fine building of the Rudolphinum and behind it the varied group of the steeples of the Old town; to the left the broad surface of the river, the distant Crown-isle and Štvanice, the lower New town with the Francis-Joseph bridge, and for a background the green slope of the Letná, under which close to the Foot-bridge rises the dark coppercoloured cupola of Straka’s Academy, an institution for the training of young Bohemian nobles. To the right we have the nicest picture of all, the characteristic group of buildings of the knights of the Red Cross, rising directly out of the depth of the river, where the current of the Old town-mills is liveliest. ​A green little is let covered with sallows and poplars makes a fine foreground to this picturesque group, surmounted by the high dome of its church, which in patina-green forms a pleasing contrast to the dark masonry of the Old town bridgetower and to the ochre colour of the Old town water-works. In the meantime we have passed the footbridge and stand before the Rudolphinum an extensive building which contains the famous Prague Conservatorium of Music, the scene of Dvořák’s and Ševčík’s activity, visited now by numberless pupils from distant England and America. Here at the same time is the largest Concert-Hall of Prague in which musicians from home and from abroad, amongst them also the most prominent of Ševčík’s violine-pupils vie for distinction and fame.
Another part of the building is devoted to temporary exhibitions of Art and to the Picture-Gallery of Patriotic Friends of Art where we find splendid specimens of the Prague school of Painting from the XVIIth. and XVIIIth. century (Karel Škréta ze Závořic, Václav Reiner, Peter Brandl, Balko) as well as representatives of the Italian, Dutch, Flemish and German schools. In the modern section, works by the most perhaps eminent Bohemian painters and artists, from the beginning of the XIXth. century, up to our time, are represented, amongst the renowned the founder of an original Bohemian School Manes, besides Václav Brožík, Čermák, Ženíšek, Hynais, Mucha, Mařák, Liška, Aleš, Marold, Myslbek and others. There is also a collection of etchings worthy of attention, particularly those by Hollar from the XVIIth. century. After a cursory inspection we leave the Rudolphinum and are newly enchanted by the all-surmounting view of the Royal Castle ascending to the height beyond the broad river in all its majesty. We feel refreshed by this majestic sight after the examination of the copious collections, and turn now to the neighbouring Artistic and Industrial Museum, which was built after the designs of Prof. Schulz, and splendidly ornamented by frescoes of the best Bohemian painters. In a row of light, spacious, and splendidly appointed rooms, rich collections are kept and an extensive library of books treating on industrial matters. Worthy of notice are the special collection of old Bohemian and especially Prague ​artistic industry, of old Bohemian glass, and ceramics, of iron and metals smithwork, embroideries, polished stones and jewelry. After a brief inspection, we proceed to the neighbouring Riverbank-street and enter by it the characteristic but slowly disappearing old Jewish-town. Only a few synagogues and a small number of narrow frightfully neglected but for that all the more picturesque houses in narrow and crooked streets are left, and farther on a small square surrounded by low houses. Out of these rises pretty high, the curious and only one of its kind in Prague, the gothic brickbuilt gable of the moss-covered „Staronová škola“ (Old-new-school) like a gigantic hand of Aaron blessing the whole Ghetto; whose pride and symbol it has been for many ages. It is a sombre and sad building like the history of the Jews themselves during the middle ages; but at the same time very fascinating by the deep impression it must make on all who venerate it for its age (from the middle of the XIIIth. century 1250—1260), and for the original sombre half darkened inside, containing beautiful column-capitals from the transition-time between roman and gothic architecture. A background of equal attraction to this synagogue is the original appearance of the old Jewish Townhall with a bizarre baroque tower and a clock the numbers of which are represented by Hebrew letters and the hands move backward from the right hand to the left. Right to the west from the old synagogue leads a narrow-lane called the „Hahnpass“. It has not exit at the end being closed up by a yellow-painted modern house in the style of the sixties of the last century. A large german and Bohemian inscription informs us, that it contains the office of the Jewish Funeral Fraternity. Some of the officials of this institution are always ready to lead us, provide the tickets and take us after a few steps, through the narrow rather neglected looking passage of a private house to a simple glass door, behind which there is one of the mos original sights of Prague: Beth-Chim—„the house of life“: the Old Jewish Cemetery. It is the oldest preserved Jewish Cemetery of Europe, dating as can be proved from the XIIth. century. It is an old garden full of picturesque tombs, covered with very old, even centenarian (sambucus, elder-tree) which give the whole place an indescribable charm. ​
And in the mysterious half-light of these natural arcades and bowers, under the roof of the syringas and in the greenish glimpses of sunbeams piercing their way through the branches of the thicket, we behold the red, gray or black outlines of the larger tombstones changing and varying with every breath of wind that blows over these dwellings of the dead. And under these higher tombs there is a medley of smaller grave stones, some of them much inclined to the ground, others completely turned over and lying flat, the higher monuments are not unlike venerable forms of olden patriarchs, beaten down and praying over grass-grown graves of thousands and thousands of men, long forgotten amongst their own people.
Here and there rain-beaten symbols proclaim even now to which tribe of Israel the man or woman belonged, who rest in their eternal sleep beneath these crumbling stones. This symbol of uplifted hands on the burst and weather beaten red marble tells us that it was a member of the house of Aaron, who was laid to rest here, then again the simply wrought form of a can signifies the temple of Gad, one of the Levites, while the sign of a lion is the symbol of the tribe of Juda, and the roughly hewn form of a bunch of grapes means an Israelite generally. We here find tombs of men of whose importance in their time neither history nor old cemetery-legends know anything. In a stone circle of thirty-three tombstones; those of his disciples, we see the sarcophagus of the famous rabbi Jehuda ben Bezulel Loew, a man of science and reputed sorcerer whose name is not forgotten in the tales of Old Prague at the present day. And here we see the dark tomb of the renowned cabbalist Aaron Spisa and not far from it a beautiful marble ​monument of the first Jewish noble-woman in Bohemia Bas-Schevi of Traunberg. In a group of the oldest stones, we are especially attracted by the fourcornered memorial, covering the relics of a celebrated rabbi, Abigdor Caro, who sang of the fate of his fellow-believers in the middle-ages in a famous eloquent „selichu“. And here again some stones call up the memory of the founder of the neighbouring synagogue Mardochai Meisl and the renowned bibliophile Rabbi Oppenheim, whose library is now in Oxford. And there again a couple of monuments of two learned men, well known to their contemporaries: the chronicler and mathematician David Gans, a friend of Keppler and Tycho Brahe, and the pupil of Galileo Galilei Salomon del Medigo de Candia. Many of the inscriptions on the tombs, time has long ago defaced; but still you can distinguish the quaint and easily legible characters of the old Hebrews, arrayed in symmetrical lines, and having an inexpressibly decorative effect.
And the deep stillness of graveyard solitude reigns all around; only now and then you hear the note of a blackbird flying heavily from tree to tree whose tone echoes faintly between the dark walls of the remote corners of the cemetery; and again it is quiet and still under the crowns of the syringas and you feel as if the sorrow of centuries dwelt here, mixed with the wailing of the once heavily persecuted chosen nation.
At such a time under the indescribably mournful impression of the graveyard solitude, you become ready to believe all the mysterious tales and stories which are told about this ancient cemetery, over which the darkness of the evening is beginning to spread. It seems as if the evening breeze wafted to you the subdued sighs from the weed covered graves and from the tombs of innocent children who for centuries were buried in a particular bend of the cemetery. And now, the shadows of the trees grow longer and deeper with the evening.
In the neighbouring synagogue the large brass candlesticks have flashed forth a brilliant light. The high windows of the building gleem in the thickning darkness of evening through the stillness of which you hear the muffled melancholy tones of the organ and the singing of the ​precenter who intones the ritual; and leads the highly melodious anthems, which speak like voices from a strange unknown world. It is the beginning of „mai-ried“ the evening service of the Jews.
And from the depths of the town, from some distant spots, voices and echoes of rushing teeming life, full of joy and movement, call us, as if it were from a dream to reality, back into the bustle of the brightly lit streets, the inhabitants of which are enjoying their evening after their day’s work is done.
EPILOGUE.
Here ends our one day’s walk during which we have seen the most beautiful, but not the largest part of Old Prague. Many and many objects are still left fo be seen, first of all the proud palaces of the Malá Strana (Small Town): those of the Princes Lobkovic, the Counts Schoenborn, Nostic (with a famous picture-gallery) the extinct counts of Michna, the house of the Maltese Knights (with a church of the Virgin Mary „sub catena“ from the Ist. half of the XIIIth. century) all surrounded by ancient gardens rising on the slopes of Mount Petřín, or situated on the banks of the picturesque Čertovka arm of the river Vltava. The edifices and their gardens are worthy of notice chiefly by their precious artistic monuments as well as by beautiful prospects of the neighbouring parts of the City. Then there are wide and spacious parks and public gardens: the Královská Obora, Letná (Belvedere) the large Seminary-garden with fields and a farm in the midst of the town, the splendid Kinský garden with a well arranged ethnographical Museum. And a row of other Museums, patterns of their kind, the renowned University of Charles IV. the oldest in Central Europe, the memorable scenes of Huss’ activity, dozens of interesting chapels, churches and temples in all imaginable styles of architecture. Then old monasteries, as that of St. Agnes from the Ist. half of the XIIIth. century; the interesting edifices of Charles’ foundations, the house of Franciscan friars with a gothic church of the Virgin Mary in nive; the famous slavonic monastery of Emaus, the grand work of the master-architect George of Prague, Karlov, with its gothic vault having the widest known ​span in Europe, and the once venerable Acropolis, the residence of the old princes and kings of Bohemia, Vyšehrad, now at least the most renowned Necropolis of Prague.
All these memorials of many centuries of diligence and unceasing cultural efforts of the small but staunch and dauntless Bohemian nation, unite here in a beautiful picture, in a sight of passing charm and freshness, which speaks to every one, to the foreigner as well as native who has preserved a sense of the beautiful; an undeniably exotic but at the same time an attractive and comprehensible language. It proclaims the earnest endeavour of the Bohemian nation to win an honourable place on the large wrestling-field of civilized European nations.
And the time is not far, when the beauties of the „Hundred-towered“ Mother Prague will be better appreciated by those who know how to make their way to all that is beautiful and noble, even, into distant countries lying outside the routes of every day travellers.
Then the old prophecy of the Bohemian Mythical Princess Libuša will be fulfilled, who seeing in her mental vision the future Prague proclaimed:
„I see a grand town, the fame of which reaches to the skies!“
Dr. Luboš Jeřábek.