August 16-17 Prague
Updated: Sep 17
August 16 Sunday
Today was about the busiest single day of the trip for me so far. Waking up early at our hostel Cesar and I made our way to the national museum of Prague. Originally founded in the early 19th century the collection was orginally housed in the founder's home before the collection grew and the decision was made to hold the collection within a much larger, dedicated, structure, at Wencelaus square. The building is heavly adorned with exterior columns consistent with the neo-classical influences within architecture in the late 19th century. I find a irony in it, that quite possible accidentally, it is the many purpose built museums of the era that do the best work in capturing the architecturaly styles of the time, particullary the many repersentations of baroque inspirations.
Following our four hour stint in the national museum we made our way to the communism museum. Covering the era of Vienna from the Soviet Occupation in 45' until the collapse of the Soviet union in 91' the museum felt like a close up look to one of the deepest evils of the last 100 years. What I found to be most particulary interesting was the section deidcated to the MGB/MVB, and later the KGB from 54' on. Being directly
decendant of those agencies that helped Stalin perpetrate his brutal and bloody purge the KGB was the iron fist of a savage totalitarian regime distrubting violence entirely arbitrarily. The KGB engage in a 40 year long campaign of suppression along the bloc states and even at home, one of the most brutal examples of their violence in the Czech Spring of 1967. On the heels of a wave of democratic sentiments and reforms in Czechia in 67' the Red Army deplooyed a mechanized division at the behest of the KGB in order to crush the rebellion. At the end of the portion of the museum and near to the end of the museum is a section dedicated to those many dozens of people who lost their lives in their attempts to cross the berlin wall, a harrowing reminded that freedom has not been, is not, and will not ever be free.
For our third and final stop of the day we made our way to the Institute of Military History in Prague, which was my most looked forward to stop of the day and most certainly was my favorite. Covering the military history of the Bohemia, Austria, and now Czechia, I found the museum and it's collection to be truly breath taking. My single favorite display in the entire museum was of King John the blind of Bohemia alongside his aides Henry of Rosenberg and Henry of Lichtenburg. I particullary love this display as present is John in full battle dress post-blinding as he would continue leading his men into battle for the remainder of his life. Also present in the museums displays in of Jan Zizka's war wagons, an often overlooked piece of military history that allowed the typically outnumbered hussite forces to time and time again win decisive battles against Catholic forces. With the day runing long and energy running short we weren't able to fully appreciate the more than 7000 pieces featured in the museum but I still feel we made the absolute most of our day. Offering a word of advice who those who might plan a trip to Prague in the future, 3 days could never be nearly enough to appreciate one of the grand old capitals of Europe.
August 17 Monday
Afforded only half a day on our final day in Prague we still managed to make the most of our day first heading straight over to the historic caslte prague.
Featuring St George's basillica and St Vitus' cathedral as well as numerous other permanent and rotating exhibits I will admit to the fact we only went into one about the castle guard as the lady wasn't looking and we hadn't purchased the very exspensive castle tour tickets and very long lines. We instead spent our time walking the grounds and purusing the many gift shops. From within such massive fortifications it is little wonder how any attacking army would have struggled massively to assault the castle, it becomes very clear how that family who may hold the castle would so easily be able to exert their influence over so many.
After Castle Prague we began to make our way towards Prague's central train station by doing the oh-so-famous walk across the statued Charle's bridge. After what felt like fighting upstream across the bridge we had a brief stop at the Charle's Bridge cafe for our last meal in the city. After a quick jaunt through the old town of Prague so Cesar could buy a Czech National Hockey jersey we arrived at the station just moments before a torrential downpour started. As I sit here on the train ride home, I find my mind, body, and spirit to all be exhausted, and I dread the week to come, though that is a problem for tomorrow, for now, I rest.
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