My Frontiers’ colleague, Jill Jergel, and I had the opportunity to be in Prague at the same time during the last week of October and while she focused on hotel sight inspections, I toured the historical, cultural and artistic sights that this fairytale city has to offer.
One of the highlights of my visit to Prague was the library in the Strahov Monastery where Frontiers can offer our clients an exclusive private tour of the two splendidly decorated halls which are off limits to the public.
The origin of the collections in the library date back to the 12th century, when the monastery was founded in 1140 by King Vladislav and soon became the center of intellectual and spiritual life in Bohemia. It is still a functioning library for academics and researchers and overseen by the monks.
In addition to the jaw dropping massive book collection, with 200,000 old prints and 3,000 manuscripts, the ceiling is painted with the most spectacular frescoes, the furniture is exquisite and there are beautiful globes from the 13th century where North America does not even exist.
Also, they have a secret passage way that I “hid” behind. Many movies have been filmed in the library including one of my favorite films -Amadeus; the incredible story of Wolfgang Mozart narrated by his peer and secret rival Antonio Salieri.
One cannot visit Prague without experiencing the rich and deep classical musical performances that are offered throughout the day and evening in the elegant concert halls, churches and music schools.
I had no less than thirty options to choose from during my visit and landed on seeing the Czech Philharmonic Symphony, which was founded in 1896, perform at the famous Municipal House’s (Obecni Dum) Smetana Hall; Prague’s most prominent Art Nouveau building. The incredible acoustics and extraordinary decorative details transformed me back to the 19th century with a stunning rendition of Antonin Dvorak’s New World Symphony No.9.
In addition to classical music, Prague is a haven for jazz lovers. After the Nazi occupation, jazz flourished and served as an expression of opposition to German music and as a yearning for freedom. You cannot cross the Charles Bridge without one or two jazz bands playing.
I had a very enjoyable evening on the “Jazzboat,” cruising the Vltava River on a moving stage with five Czech musicians performing a wide array of Dixieland tunes while viewing the sensational beauty of Prague by night. Dinner was delicious with a choice of a traditional Czech dinner of pork medallions, bread dumplings, red cabbage and homemade plum sauce or a homemade venison terrine with arugula, cranberries and freshly baked pastries.
Black Light Theater, a theatrical performance style characterized by the use of black boxes paired with fluorescent costumes augmented by black illusion lighting has become a specialty of Prague and I attended a performance which was both interesting and unique.
Additionally, I visited the Alphonse Mucha Museum, perhaps the most famous Czech painter and decorative artist, best known for his distinct style of Art Nouveau illustrations, advertisements and postcards. It was his first poster of Parisian actress Sarah Bernhardt that made him famous.
One other noteworthy museum to visit while in Prague is the Communist Museum, which houses a variety of exhibits on Czech daily life, politics, education, media propaganda and censorship in Communist Czechoslovakia before the Velvet Revolution in 1989. Ironically, the museum is located in the same building as a McDonald’s and casino – welcome capitalism…..
Dining in Prague has been elevated in the last several years with a number of superb international restaurants; I highly recommend three.
The Bily Konicek Restaurant located in the stunning 12th century medieval cellars of one of the oldest houses on the Old Town Square. “Bily Konicek,” meaning White Horse in Czech has modern furnishings, with an emphasis on glass and dark woods, creatively blended into an array of alcoves and open spaces, and spread over several levels.
The restaurant serves mainly international cuisine, but has some nice traditional Czech food on the menu as well. Meals are prepared from high quality ingredients with an emphasis on seasonal products.
The second, Chagall’s, is set in the heart of the Old Town in Prague. This is a contemporary restaurant with plenty of style and sophistication, serving a first–class international menu at reasonable prices.
Lastly, the Kampa Park restaurant is one of the city’s finest restaurants, and at the higher-end, one of the most popular. It is set in an exclusive location beside the river on Kampa Island, next to the Charles Bridge. Kampa Park offers flamboyantly presented international fare, which includes fresh fish and seafood, innovative meat dishes and luxurious desserts.
Jill and I had the opportunity to visit the Jewish Quarter of Prague with our expert guide, Martin. We began our visit at the Pinkas Synagogue, which was turned into the Memorial of Jewish Victims of the Second World War. Almost 80,000 names have been inscribed on the walls and it is an extremely simple but touching monument. A small room on the top floor houses a precious collection of drawings created by the children of the Terezin Concentration Camp.
Next to the Pinkas Synagogue, we viewed the Old Jewish Cemetery where almost 12,000 tombstones are jumbled together among trees. The oldest gravestone is that of Rabi Avigdor Kara who died in 1439.
From the Klausen Synagogue we had a short walk to the Old-New Synagogue, which is architecturally the most interesting building of the ghetto and also one of the oldest preserved synagogues in Europe.
We continued our walk to the Spanish Synagogue, which was built in1868 in a Moorish style. The richly polychrome and gilded stucco arabesques and other oriental motifs together with an organ make this interior very different from other traditional Jewish religious buildings.
Both Jill and I were moved by our extensive tour of Prague‘s Jewish Quarter, realizing that the current Jewish population in Prague is fewer than 5,000 compared to the pre-war Jewish population of 80,000 in 1938.