August 5 .....Continuation of our Old Town and Jewish Quarter Walking tour....

As we strolled through the Old Town, Vanca pointed out numerous historic buildings and churches of various architectural styles and gave us their history. One of these was the "House of the Black Madona."  It was designed and built by Josef Gocar and is the first example of Cubist architecgture in Prague and remains the most celebrated building of this style. It's currently used as the Czech Museum of Cubism.
One of Vanca's most interesting stories involved the
building known as the Rudolfinum.  During
the Nazi occupation, the German seat of power in Prague was located in this
beautiful concert hall with statues of famous composers adorning the roof.
As the story goes, Heydrich ordered that the
statue of Mendelssohn, a Jew by birth, be removed. The workmen he sent up had no idea who Mendelssohn
was as all of the statues were unlabeled so, they removed the statue which
appeared to have the largest nose, which turned out to actually be Wagner, the
anti-semite German who was Hitler’s favorite composer . I did a little research and, as it turns out, this is just "a story," as a statue of Richard Wagner was never located on the
roof of the Rudolfinuim. It appears that
this story, apparently a favorite of the tour guides, was loosely taken from
the plot of the last finished novel, “Mendelssohn on the Roof,” of Jiri Weil, a
Czech author, literary critic and journalist.
When we entered the grand Old Town Square, Vanca told us
about the Gothic “Church of Our Lady Before Tyn,” located in the very center of
the Old Square. It has been the main church of this part of the city since the
14^sth century. The two spires on the church are not symmetrical and
are meant to represent femininity and masculinity, a crucial element to Gothic
architecture, that distinguishes it from the rest. The imposing statue of
religious reformer, Jan Hus, was also found in the center of the Square. He was burned at the stake for his beliefs
that led to the Hussite Wars. And then, of course, we were able to admire the
Prague Orloj, the famous medeival astronomical clock and learn about its
history and intricate mechanisms .  What a work of art.

Something about the clock.....This medieval masterpiece was
first installed in 1410 making it the third oldest astronomical clock in the
world and the oldest one still operating. The clock is mounted on the
southern wall of Old Town Hall in the Old Town Square. The clock mechanism
is composed of three main components: the astronomical dial, representing the
position of the Sun and Moon in the sky and displays various astronomical
details; "The Walk of the Apostles," a mechanism that works to bring
out the Apostles and other moving sculptures, notably a figure of Death,
represented by a skeleton, who strike the time on an hourly basis; and a
calendar dial with medallions representing the months. According to local
legend, the city will suffer if the clock is neglected and its operation is
placed in jeopardy. From the looks and condition of this beautiful piece
of art, the city has nothing to worry about.

With all these historic buildings, the Town Hall looming
above the Prague Orloj, imposing statues, towering steeples of ancient churches,
muscians playing in the street, horse drawn carriages transporting tourists,
street performers and more, it almost felt like we had arrived in Disneyland
or, at least, on the set of some epic movie .

 We continued our walk into the Jewish Quarter with Vanca pointing out
various historic buildings and giving us a historical overview. We would
be taking a more in depth tour of this area in a few days so, I'll save that
for later.   

Near the end of the tour, Vanca guided us to one of his favorite pubs where
each table has a spigot from which you can fill your own glass and a mechanism
that keeps track of the amount of beer consumed so they can bill the
guests accurately. We decided to pop in and it was great fun,
particularly watching the other guests. They had a screen that was projected up
on the wall that displayed how much the different tables were consuming so you
could see how you rated.

We continued our walk home and stopped at the grocery store to stock up
on breakfast items, cheese, bread, salami and other snacks for the
remainder of our time in Prague. We had a free for all for our
dinner on the kitchen table in the flat . We then retired for the
evening after a full day of immersing ourselves in the fabulous city of Prague
and learning a lot about the complex history of Prague.