Metro Stop: Staromestka

Final blog post for my Maymester abroad in Prague. Over the course of our trip, we were each assigned a metro stop to photograph and document.

I was assigned Staromestka. Within my photo story, I wanted to capture the ironic contrast between the area today as a luxury, high-end shopping district and it's historical purpose as a Jewish cultural center and ghetto.

Photo Story: Cesky Krumlov

One of my favorite excursions during my month abroad in the Czech Republic was a trip to the medieval town of Cesky Krumlov in southern Bohemia.


Detail: When you visit Cesky Krumlov, enjoy a typical medieval meal at U Dwau Maryi (The Two Marys), consisting of family plates of smoked chicken wings, potato dumplings, latkes, and lentil salad.


People: As you walk or even white water raft along the Vltava River, you will notice local artists with their easels set up along the river bank, painting the medieval skyline.


Event: Continuing your walk throughout the town, the song of live music from local artists playing guitars and flutes will urge you to twirl about and join the "gypsy" dancers.


Unique: Dancing in the streets will make you feel like a local, and may even be reminescent of medieval times, but do not forgot to embrace quirky tourist photo opportunities.


Vantage Point: Ultimately, your visit in Cesky Krumlov will conclude and you will have to leave this fairytale castle town, but you can always take the memories of this place with you.

Point of View

I have never used a wheelchair. Today, at the DOX Centre for Contemporary Art, I was invited to move through an art exhibit via wheelchair.

Entering the exhibit, my classmates and I approached the group of wheelchairs suspiciously. Was this part of the exhibit? If so...then we cannot touch them, for you cannot touch things in museums. A museum attendant provided clarification with broken english and hand gestures and eager head nods, signifying that the wheelchairs were there for our own personal use.

Thus, most of us adopted a wheelchair, and began to awkwardly maneuver about the exhibit. Titled "Disabled by Normality," the exhibition "attempts to reveal and problematize the terms normality and disability in the manner in which our notions of them affect the lives of all of us – they either limit us, or on the contrary give us an advantage."



I always wanted to experience a wheelchair. Use it as an excuse to skip lines at amusement parks, or just two weeks ago, to jump in front of the crowd for a closer view of the Mona Lisa at the Louvre. But as I tried to maneuver forward and backwards, and turn about corners in the museum, I realized the difficulty of being physically confined to a chair. I had selfishly desired a wheelchair before thinking of perks that it could provide or maybe even the attention, but I was wrong.

The exhibit was beautiful. Photos and paintings and their descriptions were all lowered to the eyesight level of one who is sitting in a wheelchair. Also moving about the space, you could no longer entirely distinguish between those who actually needed a wheelchair for mobility and those who were merely "testing" one out. Honestly, I am still contemplating the exhibit and my own short experience sitting in the wheelchair. As the purpose states, I believe that there may be both an advantage as well as disadvantage to "disability." And I think the best exhibits keep you thinking long after you leave the museum.

Nighttiming

With the rising summer temperatures here in Prague, trips to the Praha Zoo, Old Town Square, and Wenceslas can become insufferably hot. The night time offers a wonderful respite from the heat waves, and no destination seems to be more popular than the Beer Garden located in Letna Park.

Just last night, several of us ventured to the rich green space of Letna Park, just a mere five minutes walk from our apartments, to join the Darling family for a round of drinks and a dramatic view of Prague's night lights. Arriving a little late, I found every table occupied with various groups of friends all gathered to share plastic cups of beer and conversation.

Within the beer garden, there were also several other sights and scents to behold. A young girl, with her playmates, created a pyramid of used beer cups beneath a white pavilion. Her parents looked on as she constructed the tower higher and higher, and when she learned that I spoke English, she promised an even greater pyramid, rivaling those of Giza.

At our own table, a small speckled puppy made constant runs between our legs and then back to his owner. Meanwhile, Miriam enjoyed a kebab...or was it a wrap...or was it...some fried pastry filled with chunks of pork, that smelled delicious. Several aisles away, for live entertainment, a group of Asian men began to yell and shove and argue and fight and push one another. We dubbed their conversations with our own English phrases, "I am going to call my people..."

The beer is cold and it is cheap, for less than 40 crowns. The company can be really grand. The atmosphere is top. One can watch the sun set over the Prague Castle just around 9 PM, and then witness street lamps and tram lights reflect off of the Vltava River. Really, the Letna Beer Garden offers a wonderfully free, and cool night time view of the city of Prague that cannot be missed.

Happening at the Zoo

Simon and Garfunkel's At the Zoo kept replaying in my mind as we ventured out the Praha Zoo this morning. Our group grabbed a quick bite at Bohemia Bagel before taking the 17 tram to the 112 bus to reach our final destination, hoping to explore the zoo before the midday Prague heat descended upon the city.

Someone told me it's all happening at the zoo.
I do believe it, I do believe it's true.

The lovely thing about arriving at the zoo fairly early was that the animals were similarly taking advantage of the cooler morning air and therefore more mobile about their captivities and enclosures. The penguins eagerly sprang in and out of the water, and then we slowed as we approached a group of visitors crouching on the ground.

The monkeys stand for honesty.
Giraffes are insincere.
The elephants are kindly but they're dumb.

A group of mothers and children were hovered about a small monkey sitting with his feet and hands wrapped around the bars of the gate. Visitors hesitantly reached out to pet the monkey, who merely responded with kind, curious eyes. Being a group of documentary photographers, this was golden. We stayed in this spot, with our new monkey friend for a good 15 minutes or so.



Zebras are reactionaries,
Anthelopes are missionaries.
Pidgeons plot in secrecy
And hamsters turn on frequently.

As we progressed through the park, we eventually took a midday break with ice cream and cool water in order to combat the coming heat. After a short respite, we stared at elephants and giraffes for a good hour, which, for some in our group, appear to serve as "spirit animals." Then we trudged along as the sun rose higher in the sky. So much for weather apps that promised cooler temperatures. Similar to our own spirits declining, the animals began to retreat themselves--whether to stables or man made caves or physical states of solitude...like sleep.

It's all happening at the zoo, in the morning, when the temperatures are cool and the animals are still curious to greet new faces.

Terezín

Yesterday, our group visited the small town of Terezín, about forty five minutes just north of Prague. The town developed first as a citadel in the late 18th century when the Habsburg Monarchy erected two fortresses along the Ohře River--the Small Fortress and the Large Fortress. Neither fortress really underwent direct siege, and the only attack occurred during the Austro-Prussian War.

During WWI, the fortress was used as a political prison camp. Then during WWII, Germans occupying the Czech Republic decided to the make use of the area yet again. The Nazi Gestapo adapted Terezín to serve as a Jewish Ghetto and concentration camp. The Nazi controlled camp stood from November 24, 1941 and May 9, 1945, and over the course of three years, 140,000 Jews were transferred to Theresienstadt--of which nearly 90,000 were deported to further camps. Roughly 33,000 died in Theresienstadt itself.

Doris Groszdenovicova, a survivor of Terezín, showed tremendous courage to return with our group to the small town and lead us down the same streets that she walked while a nineteen year old woman living in the ghetto. It was quite incredible to learn about her first hand experience living in the ghetto throughout the Holocaust, and then living throughout the Communist Era. Especially since she spoke English quite well, there was no translation or real language barrier, and so her emotions and memories connected with Terezín were clearly felt.

Our tour of Terezín concluded with a trip to the fortress, where we ventured into the living quarters that housed political prisoners. Up to 100 prisoners would be housed in a long, rectangular room that had housed 30 bunk beds. Next door, in a room half the size and with little natural light and no beds, upwards of sixty Jews would be crammed together. Our tour guide (Doris did not want to enter the fortress), shared gruesome details that made the experience all too real like how restroom pails, 1 for 60 men, would only be emptied once a week.

The trip to Terezín, while informative and valuable, proved to be very somber. Forced propaganda, a tale of how the Nazis fooled the Red Cross, and the living conditions of both the ghetto and the prison remind one of the tragedies that occurred in this place. I think it also takes visiting these locations to fully grasp the events of the past, to allow them to fully affect you and numb you, thereby preserving the experience and knowledge in your memory.

Epic

From 1910 to 1928, Czech painter Alfons Mucha, much accredited with the rise of art nouveau, began a new artistic season with the project of the Slav Epic. Over the course of eighteen years, Mucha created twenty large canvases that depict the history of Czechs and other Slavic people. The paintings spurned a new period of nationalism within the Czech Republic, and across all the Slavic people.

The idea came to Mucha after he was asked to design the interior of the Pavilion of Bosnia-Herzegovina for the Paris Exhibition of 1900. In preparation for the project, Mucha traveled throughout the Balkans in order to observe the history and customs of Southern Slavs that had once been annexed by Austria-Hungary. Prior to starting, Mucha also visited the United States in order to secure a benefactor for his ambitious project. In winter 1909, he finalled secured sponsorship from Chicago philanthropist Charles Richard Crane.

Mucha's twenty canvases depict notable, historical events that define the Czech people, and Slavic people as a whole. "The first canvas in the series, The Slavs in Their Original Homeland, was finished in 1912 and the entire series was completed in 1926 with the final canvas, The Apotheosis of the Slavs, which celebrates the triumphant victory of all the Slavs whose homelands in 1918 finally became their very own."

The Epic was presented to the city of Prague in 1928, on the 10th Anniversary of Czech's independence. Up until the past year or so, the works were displayed in chateau in the town of Moravský Krumlov in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. Today, the twenty large canvases can be seen on display in the National Gallery in Prague. It is quite remarkable to see both Mucha's works of the art nouveau style, and then the contrast with these massive Slavic epics--done in a similar style, but altogether deeper.