Mona Lisa

Can you really visit Paris without stopping by the Louvre, without seeing the large glass pyramid, and without snapping a photo of the Mona Lisa? Apparently not. On Sunday, we got lost in the Louvre museum for a good three hours, until our feet ached and complained, and until Madison, Caitlin and I were lost and all separated by several centuries of art (Egyptian to the Greek art). The museum itself was very large and consists of three great halls, filled with numerous pieces of art. To say that I was surprised by the exhibits and the great works of Gericault and Jacques-Louis David would be an understatement. The whole thing was truly overwhelming.

The greatest shock however was the attention directed toward Da Vinci's Mona Lisa, by both tourists and the Louvre itself. Stopping at the information desk, they drew a path to the Mona Lisa on my map. "But I want to see Raft of the Medusa and Gericault," I proclaimed. Then within the Greek sculpture exhibit, I saw taped signs directing me to the Da Vinci painting. No, no, no, not yet. I wanted to proceed chronologically. I did not want to skip several centuries of significant art for one painting.

When I inevitably arrived at the Louvre's crown jewel, there was a spectacle to behold. Cellular phones, iPads, small digital cameras, and professional SLRs were all waving about in the air. The paparazzi had staked out a permanent spot in front of the 77 cm x 53 cm painting. I watched old women push past young children, and one family occupied the front until every family member had a solo portrait with Mona Lisa. It was ridiculous. And yet...I inched my way to the front, I took a terrible photo of the painting with my 30 mm lens (complete with light glare, and from a great distance away), and I also took a photo in front of the piece, being the tourist that I am. Still, the spectacle was ridiculous.

Especially considering how relatively little knowledge people possess about Leonardo Da Vinci's Mona Lisa. Many complained about the small size of the painting, while one of my friends visiting Paris with me simply assumed that the significance of the painting concerned the subject's smile---"it was unusual that he painted her with a smile because painted portraits of that time did not depict smiles" or something along those lines. But the Mona Lisa is so much more.

I wish I had my art history book with me here as I try to recall, but Da Vinci employed various shapes, and colors, and techniques in order to create "the most visited, most written about, most sung about, most parodied work of art in the world." It is about more than just a smile. Da Vinci employed a pyramidal organization for composition, played with light and shadow to create various layers in the painting, the subject sits before an imaginary landscape, Da Vinci painted from an aerial perspective, and Mona Lisa's eyes gaze at you from every angle.

Today, the painting is protected by bulletproof glass. 8 million visitors of the Louvre each year stop by this image. They are "cultured" by witnessing a fine piece of art. But unless you purchase an audio guide from the museum to accompany your visit, or you happen to be an art historian, or carry with you a book or brochure, you do not really understand or grasp what it is that you are looking at. The Mona Lisa is so much more than a smile.

Cesky Krumlov

Sometimes, when you are at the right place, at the right time, cliché though it may sound, you get the perfect shot. The beams of light and the contrast of the dark clouds against the peaking sunshine are not photoshopped. This is where I was two days ago. In a truly fairytale town. A medieval town with the second largest castle of the Czech Republic, with preserved buildings of the Renaissance style, with a moat filled with large, "menacing" brown bears, with a toy shop on every corner filled with wooden trinkets and cars, and with cobblestoned streets lining an overflowing river.

The town of Cesky Krumlov is among the most popular tourist destinations within the Czech Republic, but fortunately, the recent floods across Europe have dissuaded many tourists from venturing out of Prague or north from Vienna. This left the town's small streets devoid of obnoxious tourists and allowed for scenic overlooks to remain virtually unoccupied. The town became a little medieval playground for our group of photographers. One could walk for ten minutes or an hour and always end up back in the same place. I think we all fell in love.

Lidice Lives

On the 18th of June in 1942, several paratroopers were killed at Kostel Svatého Cyrila a Metodeje (Church of Saints Cyril and Methodius) for their assistance in the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich, Nazi Governor of Bohemia and Moravia and fifth in command under the Nazi Third Reich. Two Czech paratroopers had trained under the British secret service while living in exile in England, and returned to the Czech Republic to carry out an assassination plan against notably cruel Heydrich, "the man with the iron heart."

On the 27th of May in 1942, Czech paratroopers Jan Kubiš and Jozef Gabčík made an attempt to assassinate the darkest man of the Nazi party and the brain behind the Holocaust, Reinhard Heydrich. The attack took place as Heydrich commuted from his home in the countryside to the city of Prague in an unarmed car. Waiting on the corner, the two paratroopers prepared their attack as the car slowed for the hairpin turn. After Gabčík took aim with a Sten sub-machine gun and it failed to fire, Kubiš threw a bomb at the rear of the automobile.

Heydrich sustained serious injuries from the attack, was taken to the hospital, and eventually died due to blood poisoning on June 4th, 1942. The two assassins escaped, one on bike and one on foot, and hid in nearby safe houses owned by members of the underground Czech resistance. They then relocated to the crypts beneath the Greek Orthodox Church, where they hid for multiple weeks until a traitor revealed their location. Over 800 members of the SS and Gestapo surrounded the church, and used tear gas, bullets, and high pressured blasts of water in order to drive the men out of the crypt. After a lengthy drawn out battle, the paratroopers in the crypt took their own lives.



Before the whereabouts of the paratroopers were discovered, an elaborate funeral was held for Heydrich, and Hitler demanded repercussions. Over 13,000 Czech people were arrested, deported, and imprisoned. Also due to false intelligence, attacks were ordered on several small Czech towns like Lidice, believed to have been the hometown of the assassins.

The small village of Lidice, located just northwest of Prague, was completely destroyed on June 10th in 1942 in reprisal for the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich. All men over sixteen were led to a wall lined with mattresses, not blindfolded or tied, and there they were murdered "without a word of explanation." The women were sent to a concentration camp. And the children: 98 were deported to concentration camps, of which 82 children were sent to gas chambers. 9 children were selected for the process of "Germanization" and adopted by German families, 7 children were placed in a orphanage. Of 105 children in the village of Lidice, 88 lost their lives, and only 17 returned to the village after the conclusion of the war and Nazi occupation of the Czech Republic.



The town was completely destroyed. Today, there stands a museum and a memory--both reminders of what occurred there. Strange enough, hardship and death and destruction and terrible cruelty occured here in 1942, but today there are rolling hills of bright, green grass. The place is ironically beautiful. Beautiful in the way that the memory is being preserved, how members of Lidice returned to houses rebuilt for them by the government and allied powers after the war, how the history is being passed on, how Lidice lives.

We met with a survivor from Lidice after touring the museum and remnants of the previous site of Lidice. Jaroslava Skleničková published the book, "If I Had Been a Boy, I Would Have Been Shot" and spoke with our class of her experience working in a concentration camp after being forced to leave Lidice with the other women. Her testimony was remarkable, and she conquered great hardship. She has returned to Lidice with her husband in her retirement, and she continues to keep the history of Lidice alive.

Love Abroad

A thousand words. A dark, grey sky. Clouds hanging over the city. Racing to the King's Parade. Climbing up the large hill with the Prague Castle constantly in sight. A looming Castle. Impending rain and thunder. People race up the hill as well. Stop to catch your breath. Stop to take a photo. But not allowed to stop for a gingerbread man. Thanks Caitlin.

Arrive at the castle. But first, you witness a moment. The tourists are here. The tourists pose for a photo. They pose in front of the city. She wears a wedding dress. He wears a tuxedo. She wears white sneakers. A second photographer scales the walls. There is a contrast of colors. Red and lime green against a black sky. This is a moment.

Everyone watches the young tourists. The young couple. They must be in love. The photo will feature black clouds. The photographer captures an orange and white city. He also captures the couple wearing the dress and suit. Smiles spread across their faces. They are full of joy. They radiate joy. This is a moment. The camera will capture the moment forever. They will remember it forever. They will have a photo of Prague with clouds and the city. The photo will remind them of rain. Of love. Of a trip to Prague. Of clouds before the King's Parade. Of a trip together. Of a moment before their wedding. Or of a moment after their wedding.

This photo is worth a thousand words. It's worth over a thousand tiny moments in the couple's relationship leading up to this marriage and this promise of a future together. It's worth a thousand future moments. A thousand more "I love you's" and a thousand more trips abroad. It's worth a thousand words, but here's three hundred and three words.