Travels in Czech Republic - Prague, Part II

Prague has so many things to see that you really need to spend several days, or even better, a whole week to really explore and thoroughly enjoy the city. The city is divided into several areas to make it easier to figure out what you want to see. There is, of course, Prague Castle sitting high up on the hill, with St Vitus cathedral, Old Royal Palace, convent of St George, and Sternberg Palace, to name just a few. Strahov Monastery and the beautiful gardens that lead downstairs to Prague’s Lesser Town with Wallenstein Palace, St Nicolas Church, and the incomparable Charles Bridge that connects Lesser Town with Jewish Quarter, which has several synagogues, old Jewish cemetery, St Agnes’ convent.

Quick Tips:

I wouldn’t rent a car if you are staying in Prague and aren’t planning on exploring further into Czech Republic. Parking is very limited, and you usually would have to park in a parking lot and find out from the elderly gentleman there to collect the money how much it will cost you. But bear in mind that he probably doesn’t speak any English--maybe some Russian or German, in addition to Czech. Even though most guides say that it is easy to get your car stolen, unless you have a Mercedes or something really fancy, you are probably not running that risk. If you decide to rent a car, there is an Avis car rental across the bridge from Hilton Prague, a couple of blocks away from the highway. It is much better to make a reservation from the U.S.; this way you will get a better rate than if you just walked in without a reservation.

Best Way To Get Around:

The city has a well-developed public transportation system. There are only three metro lines, and they are easy to navigate. To be able to get on the train that goes in the right direction, you simply need to figure out which station is the last in that direction, and that way you won’t get lost. For example, you are on station “Florenc” and you need to get to “Museum”, just look at the map, and you will see that you need to be on line C (red color) and you need to get on the train in the direction of “Haje”. Maps are available from the hotel concierge or in the metro, at the entrance. You also need to learn some words: “pristup” means transfer, “linka” is line, “vstup” is entrance, “vystup” is exit, and “stanice” is station.

Kostel Panny Marie pred Tynem
Open: 9am–5pm, Monday-Friday
Free entrance, no pictures allowed inside

The two amazingly impressive high Gothic spires of this church seem to be visible from everywhere in the city and are located in the very center of Prague on the Old Town Square. You reach the church through the building in front of it with arched roofs. The stone façade uncovers the Gothic church that dates back to the 14th century, with beautiful bright stained glass, coats of arms on the ceiling and a lot of baroque embellishments: the pulpit gilded over carving, statues of saints below the 2nd floor windows, paintings in gilded frames on the walls, and several chapels with characteristic columns and halos of sun rays. And of course, the church has black with gold organ literally crowned at the top and an immense altar also black and gold with rather primitive figures of saints and bishops. You can also see frescoes from older times with paler but nonetheless beautiful colors and tombs of knights along the walls. In a chapel to the right of the entrance, there is a statue of St. Cyril and St. Methodius.

Open: Tuesday-Sunday, 9am–noon and 1pm–5pm
No pictures allowed.

This whitewashed large monastery with green cupolas can be seen from afar, especially since you have to climb the hill to get to it. The monastery dates back to the 13th century and is a mixture of Gothic and baroque. Strahov Chapel was closed with a gate, precluding me from walking up to the altar. However, you can see everything from the entrance: long ceiling covered with plaster vignettes and frescoes, baroque chapels leading up to the huge gilded altar with dark marble columns, and gilded angles with haloes of golden rays. There are also beautifully carved ends of seats and lot of light from the windows. Baroque façade with angel statues above the entrance and metal artwork on the door leading in is very typical of Czech churches.

The monastery has 12th-century Romanesque cloisters (whatever is left of them), and currently there is an exhibition of modern art there. Upstairs, there is Strahov Gallery, open 9am to noon and 12:30pm to 5pm daily, closed Mondays. Admission is 50Kc for adults and 20Kc for students. It has an exposition of religious art of the 16th century – triptychs, madonnas, crosses in gold frames, wooden statues of saints, paintings by Cranach, von Aachen, Spranger, van Dyck, Skreta, Brandtl, Liska and a lot of Czech baroque masters. There is also a copy of Durer’s "The feast of Rosaries" by Gruss. This art collection is considered one of the most important religious art collections in Bohemia and Central Europe. You can also visit Philosophical Hall ,with baroque bookcases and a beautiful ceiling fresco that shows the struggle of mankind to know real history.

(Katedrala Sv. Vita) Open: 4/1 to 10/31 9am to 5pm and 11/1 to 3/31 9am to 4pm Photos of the interior of the cathedral can be taken only if you have a ticket, which you can buy at the ticket office inside.

Prague cathedral shares a large square with the Old Royal Palace inside the Prazsky hrad (Prague castle). So here is a beautiful gothic cathedral with a myriad of towers rising high and a large pink-colored but not very impressive royal palace.

The large, bright cathedral is in Gothic style, and all of the chapels of the first floor are covered with amazingly bright stained glass, all of which looks modern. The most impressive stained glass in one of the chapels is Art Nouveau St Cyril and St Methodius by Alfons Mucha. Above the entrance there is a very large neo-Gothic rose window you can’t really see from inside with light coming through it – you can go blind by just looking at it. The north transept is occupied by a huge two-story organ in glorious baroque style. The south transept has beautiful stained glass that covers half the wall. The altar and the choir cover a large portion of the cathedral in the back. There are beautiful chapels surrounding the altar with frescoed walls, gilded gates, older stained glass, and the crypt. St Vitus was a Roman soldier who was a secret Christian, and he was killed by his own parents. King Wenceslas devoted the cathedral to him. King George ordered a large, beautiful tomb for his wife, which is in front of the altar. Above the altar you can see a beautiful stained-glass image of an apparition of Christ. Arches around the choir have royal coats of arms.

The west facade is beautiful from the outside as well, still dominated by the rose window. Two Gothic towers on each side form a three-gate entrance (the left tower is covered in scaffolding). The stained glass of the south transept is covered with gilded ornaments. The gate facing the Royal Palace (called Golden Portal because of the large gilded cage on one of the windows) used to be the main entrance until the 19th century.

Open: 10am–6pm daily, closed Monday
No pictures allowed

The National Gallery’s collection of European art is housed in Sternberg Palace. This is a very good collection of old masters.

On the ground floor, there is a collection of German and Austrian masters of the 16th to 18th centuries which includes Cranach’s "Adam and Eve" and "St Christina", interesting works by Kulmbach that remind one of tapestries, Holbein’s altarpieces, and Durer’s "The feast of the Rosary" (which is seriously in need of restoration). Hans Raphon’s "The Passion Altar", made up of nine pieces, is exhibited in a separate chapel. The ceilings of that chapel at one point had beautiful frescoes but not much is left anymore.

There is a garden where you can relax a little and grab something to eat. On the 1st floor, along the staircase, della Robbia’s Madonna greets you. On the 1st floor there is a collection of antiquities, Italian art of the 14th to 16th centuries (large collection of miniatures), and also an amazing collection of Russian icons from 11th to 17th centuries, as well as triptychs by Murano, paintings by Orsini, Venetian masters of the 15th century, Pierro della Francesca, Bronzino, and Flemish and Dutch masters of the 16th century, including van Cleve and Gossaert.

The 2nd floor has a nice collection of Italian and Spanish art of the 16th to 18th centuries, including works by Tintoretto, Giordano, Ribera’s "St Jerome", Tiepolo, Goya’s "Portrait of don Miguel de Lardizabal", El Greco, French masters of the 17th century including Poussin, Bourdon, Le Brun, Flemish art of the 17th century – Brueghel, de Vos, Snyders, Teniers, Bosch, and Rembrant. Rubens and van Dyck share a large hall.

The palace still has some of the original decoration, including several rooms with frescoed ceilings; a lot of rooms have baroque and chinoiserie elements.

Open: Saturday and Sunday 10am to 5pm
Free entrance

The palace and gardens were built by the count of Wallenstein, who was a famous warrior in his time who tried to build a palace that would outshine the Prague castle. You can easily reach it on foot, as it is within a 3-minute walk from the metro Malostranska. Now this building houses the Czech senate, and only part of the building is shown to the public on the weekends.

But the part that is shown is truly beautiful and well maintained. All of the decoration is by Italian architects. The main hall can easily accommodate 200 people. This very large hall has a ceiling fresco of battle scene, with Wallenstein in the middle portrayed as Mars. The room is lit by beautiful crystal chandeliers and made to look even larger by mirror windows on the second level. The decor of the ceiling is stucco with weaponry. Knight’s Hall is another well-maintained room with leather fabric with birds and fruit, a ceiling fresco of Athena, and huge, beautiful crystal chandelier. The waiting room has amazing carvings above the doors. Audience Hall is typical baroque ,with white plaster walls covered in flowers and gods and frescoes in between. And then there is the Mythological Passage, where Greek mythology scenes are painted on the ceiling and you can enjoy beautiful carved bureau and furniture along the walls. Each room has beautiful wooden doors with intricate locks. I was told by the lady who works there that the chandeliers were recently changed to light bulbs, so it’s much lighter now than it used to be inside.

The palace also has beautiful, well-maintained gardens with a large terrace, Sala Terrena, with frescoes on the ceiling reminiscent of Italian villas in Rome. But the best part of the gardens is most definitely the grottos – dripstone walls that were a mysterious area with artificial and living intermingled during Wallenstein’s days, a typical example of mannerist baroque. The gardens have several alleys lined with groomed bushes, a square pool with a statue of Hercules in the middle, and a pavilion with frescoes of the Argonauts.