Fotoeins Friday: Praha’s Jiřího z Poděbrad (George of Poděbrady)
Above/featured, seen from George of Poděbrady Square (Náměstí Jiřího z Poděbrad): left, Žižkov television tower (Žižkovská televizní věž); right, Church of the Most Sacred Heart of Our Lord (Kostel Nejsvětějšího Srdce Páně).
Most visitors to Prague stick to the “royal mile”, the magical stretch of “open-air museum” from Wenceslas Square, over Charles Bridge, to Prague Castle. Many sights in Prague are easy to reach with public transport.
Metro station Jiřího z Poděbrad (George of Poděbrady) on the green- or A-line takes people east to the Vinohrady neighbourhood. At street level is the square bearing the same name: Náměstí Jiřího z Poděbrad (George of Poděbrady Square). Visible from the square are the Žižkov television tower (Žižkovská televizní věž), and the Church of the Most Sacred Heart of Our Lord (Kostel Nejsvětějšího Srdce Páně) whose 7.5-metre diameter clock is the largest in the Czech Republic. As an example of “ecclesiastical modernism”, this Roman Catholic church was built in 1929–1932 by Slovene architect Jože Plečnik, who once studied with architect Otto Wagner in Vienna.
Born 23 April 1420, George of Poděbrady was crowned King of Bohemia in 1458, and had ideas of a pan-European parliament to counter Ottoman expansion in the east. His extraordinary but unsuccessful attempt in 1464 at a peace treaty among similarly-minded Christian kingdoms and territories (“Tractatus pacis toti Christianitati fiendae“) may be seen as medieval predecessor to a “European union of nations”. Following Jan Hus, George was also a leader of Utraquists, a moderate group of Hussites who supported both forms of Communion in “bread and wine” to all people and not just to clergy.
“George” has the corresponding Prague metro station Jiřího z Poděbrad, which is identified in the Radiohead song “A Reminder”. At about the 7-second mark into the song, a recorded voice issues the following public address message:
Ukončete výstup a nástup, dveře se zavírají. Příští stanice: Jiřího z Poděbrad.
(Do not enter or exit, doors closing. Next station: George of Poděbrady.)
Praha DPP metro line A (green) station, Jiřího z Poděbrad station.
I made both photos on 4 August 2013 with a Canon EOS450D (Rebel XSi) and 18-55 IS II glass. Settings for the first image are: 1/250-sec, f/8, ISO100, 18mm (29mm full-frame); and settings for the second image are: 1/10-sec, f/3.5, ISO800, 18mm (29mm full-frame). The camera’s shutter assembly died shortly after these photos were made. This post appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins DOT com as http://wp.me/p1BIdT-6By.
Fotoeins Fotografie 
9 Responses to “Fotoeins Friday: Praha’s Jiřího z Poděbrad (George of Poděbrady)”
I really like the colors and design of the second pic. The little green line box sets it off really nicely.
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Hi, Bob. Certainly the stations in and around Prague’s city centre have a similar design with a mix of different colours. The green square to the side, which denotes the station for the green line, is a complement to the adjacent station name in its own rectangle and a juxtaposition with the surrounding circles. Thanks for reading and for your comment!
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Hi! As soon as I saw this shot I thought…”I know this place!”. I stayed about 2 minutes from here when I was in Prague. I loved that little park. They had a great farmers market every Friday and Saturday. Thanks for taking me down memory lane and linking up this week! #TPThursday
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Hi! You took me down memory lane. When I was in Prague I stayed about 2 minutes from this church. There was also a weekly farmers market in the park that was fantastic. Thanks for linking up this week. #TPThursday
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Hi, Nancie. I approved your other comment for completeness 🙂 I’ve always found the Vinohrady neighbourhood to be really interesting, from Namesti Miru to Jiriho z Podebrad. I’m also very glad I was able to transport you back a couple of years to Prague! Thanks for your comments!
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