New York Society Library

NYSL TRAVELS
Prague in Black and Gold

NYSL TRAVELS: Prague in Black and Gold by Irene Schmied

Prague wears its beauty with a characteristic shrug, a gesture that recognizes the upheavals of its history. By now, the renovated gleam of its Gothic and Baroque treasures has washed away the tawdriness of recent decades. Yet the melancholy of its thousand year old past hovers over the town as does the mist that rises from its river, the Vltava (Moldau). The ancient fortress, castles, palaces spread over its hill tops, and statues, religious and public monuments churches, libraries arrayed along its streets cry out for an inquiry into their history. So it would seem that we travelers are called to undertake two simultaneous journeys: one to the main historical monuments and sights of the city, the other up and down the stairs of the NYSL stack levels in search of insight into its fractured heart. This paper will visit the monuments in chronological order rather than by geographic proximity. The text will highlight a few books in the relevant NYSL stack levels (History, Biography, Travel, Art.) Other relevant books and their call numbers will be listed at the end.

Out of the mist of legend and the haze ever covering the hills that are Prague steps Queen Libussa, legendary founder of the city in the 9th century. A few ancient stones in Vysehrad, the old hillside fortress over the Vltava, still mark her bath. Although this wise matriarch is yet to be discoverd by feminist literature, she does appear in a book (Sis, Peter, Three Golden Keys in the Children's Room, Stack 8). Early Slav history in Bohemia and the emergence of the House of Premysel can be found in Maurice C. Edmund, The Story of Bohemia since Earliest Times (943.71 M). It tells of King Ottakar II (1251-1278), one of Libussa's descendants, who stretched his kingdom from north to south before losing sovereignty thereof to the Holy Roman Empire. Stack 2 - History - under Call number 940.7 holds other accounts of the early middle ages in Bohemia and Central Europe, such as History of the Czechs by Kamil Krofta (943.7K).

The city's first great moment of glory was its time as capital of the Holy Roman Empire under Emperor Charles IV (1316-1378), also hereditary king of Bohemia. Let us - as do all visitors and residents almost daily - walk over Charles Bridge (1357-1407) towards the Old Town (Stare Mesto). The hill-top Prague Castle (the Hrad), a perpetual presence that hangs over the city, will rise behind us. Facing us (to the east) are the Gothic towers of the Old Town. The highest of them are the stabbing two spires of the Tyn Church. These structures are the work of Peter Parler, architect to Charles IV, and his descendants. The statues of the saints on each side of the Bridge were added some three centuries later and date from the period of Baroque mysticism that followed the Czech Protestant defeat in the Thirty Year War (1618-1648). Stack 7 holds several biographies of Charles IV including one by Alan Burgess. In the Art Section (Stack 12) stands Sacherel Sitwell's Gothic Europe.

The steps around the Jan Hus Memorial in the Old Town Square provide a good resting place for footsore visitors. The huge monument dominates the square as the figure of Jan Hus dominated Czech History. It was only placed there in 1915, and stands in the place of the Baroque St. Mary's column donated by the victorious Habsburgs after the definitive Hussite defeat in 1620. Prague is a palimpsest of historical memory. More information on Hus, a follower of Wycliffe, can be found in the following fascinating transcript of his trial: bracciolini Poggio (1380 to 1459) The Trial, council of Constance (1414-1418) 284.3P CS. The attached bibliography lists several of the Hus biographies.

In Prague Walks by Ivana Edwards (Stack 1, Travel) traces another connecting thread within the fabric of Prague history, namely the three Denfenestrations of Prague. These acts cut a swath through over 500 years of history. IN 1421 Hussite revolutionaries threw Catholic City councilors out of the window of the New Town Hall in Charles Square, a park-like square that marks the center of Charles IV's New Town. Almost two hundred years later, namely 1618, the Castle was the site of the Second Defenestration. Grieved at imperial restrictions on their rights, radical Protestant nobles tossed three of the most reactionary royal officials out of the Council chamber windows, thereby creating one of the causes of the Thirty Years War. Exactly three hundred years after the end of that war and shortly before the Communist take-over in 1948, Jan Masaryk (son of the founder of the first Republic, Foreign Minister to the fledgling post World war II Republic, and presumed suicide) may have met a similar fate in his office at the Czernin Palace near the Castle (see Marcia Davenport in Too Strong For Fantasy, 92 D2475 D.)

Every hour on the hour people congregate in front of the Old Town Halls' Astronomical Clock, originally constructed in 1410. The allegorical puppet theatre that springs to life at every chiming of the hour is the work of Master Hanus, an astronomer in 1490. Stack 11 (Applied Science) holds relevant research material.

Astronomy was one of the major interests of the Prague Emperor Rudolf II (1552-1611), who chose the city as his capital of the Holy Roman Empire, and made it a Renaissance center of arts and science. Scientists such as Johannes Kepler and Tycho Brahe worked for him. His royal Kunstkammer treasures would fall booty of invading armies, but it has been reconstituted in one of the most fascinating books in the New York Society Library collection. It is Rudolf II and Prague, The Court and the City by Eliska Fucikova 1997, and is based on the exhibition of reassembled Rudolphine Art that she organized in 1997. No prospective traveler to Prague should fail to browse in this volume and relive the spirit of one of Prague's greatest moments. For more of historical background, refer to H.G. Koenigsberger, Europe in the Sixteenth Century and The Habsburgs and Europe, both under 940.3 K.

The nature of Rudolphine Prague stirs up debate. Magic Prague by Angel Maria Ripellino paints the picture of a dark, mysterious time, given to a feverish pursuit of astrology, alchemy, dream interpretation and magic. In contrast, Peter Demetz in Prague in Black and Gold insists on a period of learning and scholarship. Rabbi Judah Loewe (d.1610), creator of the Golem and confidante of the Emperor, becomes a scholarly symbol of the Rudolphine renaissance. Both these books further an understanding of the inner dynamics of the city's history. The Golem by I.B. Singer (Nobel Prize laureate) is a book for children (Stack 12) about the mythical being who once roamed the streets of Prague.

The Old Jewish Cemetery, with that of Rabbi Loewe among its multitude of tombstones, is a fascinating forest of old tombstones. The Gothic 1 Altneu Synagogue (1270), the Jewish Town Hall with the Hebrew lettering of its clock, and several other synagogues line the streets of the Jewish Quarter, a place of pilgrimage for all, as described by Patricia Hampl in A Romantic Education, 943.71 H (also under 726 K see The Synagogues of Europe by Carole Herselle Krinsky, published in 1986).

Kafka and other heirs to this tradition would be among the stars on the literary firmament of the turn-of century Prague literary renaissance. World War II would toll the death knell of the Jewish community. It would also bring an end to the vibrant culture of the "Dreivoelkerstadt. (City of Three Peoples, i.e. Czech, German and Jewish.) The late New Yorker writer Joseph Wechsberg's books, Prague, the Mystical City 943.71 W among them, conjure up that lost world.

Now it is time to continue our wanderings by boarding Tram #22 as I was wont to do during my month-long attendance at the 1996 Prague Summer Writers Workshop. My stop was at the statues of Kepler and Tycho Brahe by the Hrad and close to my dorm. Instead we will now take the tram all the way out to Bila Hora, the site of the Battle of the White Mountain (1620.) The crushing defeat of the Czech Protestants led to three hundred years of Austrian domination. On its return trip, Tram #22 stops by the river, a few steps away from Stare Mesto Namesi (Old Town Square). Twenty-seven Czech nobles were executed in front of the Old Town Hall in 1621. Crosses on the pavement at the foot of the tower mark the spot. Their comrades in arms were forced to flee or convert to Catholicism. Schiller's History of the Thirty Year War (940.24 S.) Other relevant books in the History stack include Robert A. Kann, History of the Habsburg Empire 1526-1918.

The glistening domes, the towers of some of Europe's most beautiful Baroque churches and palaces and buildings would now begin rise on the hills and outshine the vestiges of Gothic and Rudolpine Prague. (See Sacherell Sitwell on Baroque Art) In the 1620's twenty houses, three gardens and the city brick works were laid waste to give rise to the sumptuous gardens and huge palace of ruthlessly ambitious warlord Albrecht von Wallenstein (1583-1634.) As with other palaces along the left Mala Strana side of the river, this garden is now used for open air concerts and opera performances. The definitive Wallenstein biography by Golo Mann and other biographies can be found under 92W in Stack 7.

Lesser Town (Mala Strana,) the pearl of Baroque Prague, cascades down the hill from the Hrad to the river. Possibly the site of the city's earliest settlement, it now has a charm all of its own. Its narrow streets and sudden squares still harbor the atmosphere of the 18th century Prague, (Eberhard Hempel on Baroque Art and Architecture in Stack 12.) Perhaps the most beautiful of all the Baroque Churches is that of St. Nicholas on Malastransky Square (Lesser Town Square.) Its verdigris copper dome reigns over the rooftops of the city. Its interior shows the characteristic Baroque concern with drama, illusion and ornament at an unmatched high level of intensity. Here music lovers can now hear Baroque choral and classical chamber music on weekday evenings.

While eighteenth century Prague sank to the status of a provincial town and its language - the Czech of John Hus - became no more than a peasants' tongue, the city reemerged as a center of music and opera. It was captivated by the music of MOZART (1756-910) as he was captured by it. Villa Bertramka, then a country estate where he stayed with friends, is now a shrine to Mozart, easy to reach by tram. The Marriage of Figaro was first performed at the Estates Theatre in 1787. A few years later, the same theatre saw the premiere of Don Giovanni that it had commissioned. (See Mozart by Marcia Davenport and numerous other biographies.)

City tours today combine a visit to this Baroque theatre with one to the Narodni Divadio (National Theatre), construction of which took three decades, from 1851 to 1881. It is a short walk in the space down Narodni Street from one theater to the other, but a longer journey in time from the era of Mozart to the turbulent period following the revolution of 1848. By then, the tides of nationalism and democracy were sweeping through the lands of the declining Habsburg Empire. Performance of the folk operas of Smetana and Janucek called for a Czech theatre (as against the German Estates Theatre.) The Coast of Bohemia: A Czech History by Derek Sayer (943.7 S) contains an analysis of the linguistic revival and re-awakening of Czech nationalism.

The gleam of garnet red and misty white crystal continues to lure today's tourists into the capital's stores and away from its historical and artistic sights. These products began to appear in the final decades of the 19th century. By then, Bohemia, ever a land of artisans, was in the latter stages of industrialization. It would become and remain a major production center of machinery and goods. Its porcelain still rivals that of its Central European neighbors.

Industrialization brought with it a cry for urban renewal. According to Peter Demetz in Prague in Black and Gold, neither the Hussite civil wars (of the 15th century), nor the enlightened policies of Emperor Joseph II (which secularized monasteries in the late 18th century) altered the historical shape of Prague to such an extent. The year 1893 witnessed the razing of the most decrepit buildings (including much of the Old Jewish Quarter and several churches.) In the Old Town, Fin de siecle apartment buildings, some with art nouveau facades, rose along the ancient grid of streets.

Our stroll around the historic monuments of Prague can end here. The outward appearance of the city will change a little over the next hundred years. Its streets today tell the epic of earlier times, but not that of the new heights to which its spirit would soar during the First Czech Republic (1918 to 1939) nor the dark depth to which it would be later forced to sink. These events still tingle the misty, golden evening light, are embodied in the proverbial shrug of the shoulders, have left traces in the memories and on the faces of the older generation. The gentrified streets of the modern Prague that arose out of the Velvet Revolution of 1989 do not bear witness to them. The peace and quiet in the rooms of NYSL are the best place for reading about and reflection on the last fifty years of history.

The shelves of Stack 7 hold the biographies of Thomas Masaryk, the philosopher president of the First Republic of Czechoslovakia (1918-1939) and Eduard Benes. Its second President, of Alexander Dubcek, president during the ill-fated Prague Spring of 1968. There are the collected essays of playwright Vaclav Havel, the current Presidnet, and biographies of Madelaine Albright, who may yet become the next President of the Czech Republic.

Among the volumes in the history shelves (Stack 2) that help to explain the trauma of the mid 20th century Czech history are books by George Kennan, Joseph Korbel, Tad Szulc and Vaclav Havel.

It is the writers and their characters who best reflect the spirit of the modern city. Kafka's Joseph K., Hasek's Good soldier Svejk, Karel Capek's robot (a descendant of the Golem) are ever present. The fiction sections (Stack 5 and 6) contain the works of these writers and of all those who turned the Prague of the early nineteen hundreds into the capital of European literature. The subsequent upheavals of World War II and of the Communist era form the background of the works of such contemporary writers as Milan Kundera, Ivan Klima, and Bohumil Hrabal, author of Closely Watched Trains, and the film script of the same.

The evening sunlight gilds the musty air below the high ceiling of the reading room at the library, no longer on East 79th Street but transported to the Klementinum in Prague. Built in vibrant seventeenth century Baroque, this hall was once part of a vast Jesuit precinct; it now houses the Prague Public Library. Here we will end our readings about the city and venture out into its streets again. The cafes of the nearby Old Town Square beckon us. Is that Joseph K., who is hurrying past us on his way to yet another meaningless but ominous appointment near the castle It may well be. The Orloj (Astrological clock) strikes seven o'clock, giving us still enough time to stop off for a bottle of Pilsener before the opening curtain of tonight's opera (Mozart, of course) at the Estates Theatre. A walk over U Kalicha (The Chalice,) the beer hall once frequented by Hasek and still filled with memorabilia of the Good Soldier Svejk would take too long. The popular pub, U Fleku, is nearer. It is the only brewery left in Prague that serves its own beer. Was we hasten towards it, we sense that we are no longer strangers to this city. The light breeze from the Vltava River whispers in our ears "Zlata Praha vas vita" (Golden Prague welcomes you).

NYSL TRAVELS: Prague in Black and Gold by Irene Schmied

B I B L I O G R A P H I C
LISTING OF RELEVANT BOOKS
(in chronological, not alphabetical, order)

HISTORY

 

BIOGRAPHY

    Charles IV (1316-1278)
  • Jarrett, Bede, Charles IV, 92 K 186 K
    Wallenstein (1586-1634)
  • Mann, Golo, Wallenstein, (1976) 92 W 187
    Mozart (1756-1791)
  • Davenport, Marcia, Mozart, (1932) 92 M 939
    43 other titles on Mozart are here
    Smethana (1824-1928)
  • Large, Brian, Smethana, 92 S 638 L
    Leos Janacek (1854-1928)
  • Vogel, Jaroslav, Janacek (1981) 92 J 3255 V

 
 

FINE ARTS

 

TRAVEL & DESCRIPTION

 

CHILDREN'S ROOM

 

20th Century Fiction

  • Pre- World War II (The Prague Literary Renaissance): Ranier Marie Rilke (1875-1926 fiction/poetry), Jaroslav Hasek (1883-1923), Franz Kafka (1883-1924), Franz Werfel (1890-1945), Karel Capek (1890-1938)
  • Post- World War II: Milan Kundera, VaclavHavel (prose/plays), Ivan Klima, Joseph Skvorecky, Arnost Lustig, Bohumil Hrabal, Pavel Kohout, Miroslav Holub.

NYSL TRAVELS: Prague in Black and Gold by Irene Schmied

Respectfully submitted on March 31, 2000

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