Ceiling, St. Nicholas Church, Malá Strana, Prague
St. Nicholas’s ceiling – The Apotheosis of St. Nicholas – comes to you courtesy of the Austrian artist, Johann Lukas Kracker. It’s one of the largest ceiling frescoes in Europe.
Organ, St. Nicholas Church, Malá Strana, Prague
Mozart played here. Or, to be more precise, Mozart played on this organ. Built by the Jesuit Thomas Scwharz (1745-1747), the organ has over 4,000 pipes. Mozart’s connection with Prague came about through his friendship with composer Frantisek Dusek and his wife Josefina. They first met in Salzburg, when the Duseks
Continue readingOrgan, St. Nicholas Church, Malá Strana, Prague
Vrtba Garden, Malá Strana, Prague 1
This marvelous secret garden is tucked down an alleyway off the Karmelitská, within spitting distance of St. Nicholas Church. It began its life in 1720, as the private playground of Jan Joseph, Earl of Vrtba, and it is Baroque through and through. There is an aviary, a fountain, a sala terrena
Roof of the Rudolfinum, Prague
Nazi-occupied Prague, an aspiring SS officer, a simple job – what could go wrong? In Jiri Weil’s black comedy, Mendelssohn Is on the Roof, the answer is, a lot. Julius Schlesinger’s orders are simple. His Nazi superiors wish him to remove the statue of the only Jewish composer on the
Rudolfinum, Prague
The former seat of the Czechoslovak parliament (1918-1938) is now the home of the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra.
Josefov, Prague
If this doesn’t look much like a medieval ghetto, that’s because most of the Josefov (“Jewish Quarter”) was bowled in the late 19th – early 20th century to make way for new, Parisian-style architecture. A smattering of synagogues, the Old Jewish Cemetery and the old town hall are all that
