Fotoeins Fotografie

location bifurcation, place & home

Posts tagged ‘Praha’

Angel of light, Christmas market, Vánoční trhy na Staroměstském náměstí, Vánoční trhy, Staroměstském náměstí, Old Town Square, Praha, Prague, Czech Republic, fotoeins.com

Fotoeins Friday: Hark, the herald angel lights in Praha

One thing about which I’m particularly attracted at Christmas Markets are the lights. Having frequented the Czech capital city of Prague, the surprise is entirely mine when sparkly angels of light appear in time for the city’s Christmas markets. This angel in the northwest corner of Old Town Square points to the towering spires of the Church of Our Lady before Týn. At the foot of the church are the Jan Hus memorial statue and the ever-present and illuminated Christmas tree.

I made the photo above on 4 December 2008 with the Canon EOS450D (XSi), EF-S 18-55 IS kit zoom-lens, and the following settings: 0.5s, f/4.5, ISO200, 18mm focal length (29mm full-frame equivalent). This post appears on Fotoeins Fotopress at fotoeins.com as http://wp.me/p1BIdT-7ke.

Fall morning, Petrin Hill, Charles Bridge, Prague, Czech Republic, fotoeins.com

Fotoeins Friday: Autumn morning on Prague’s Petrin hill

Orange light during the “golden hour” provides an exceptionally warm glow over fall foliage. Looking out from Prague’s Charles Bridge to the western flank of the Vltava river, Petřín hill seems to come alive with “fire”, dressed with the leaves’ changing colours. There aren’t many people around at this early morning hour, and aside from a few joggers and other visitors, the view belongs entirely to me. Kampa Museum on Kampa Island appears in the foreground to the lower left. The medieval defensive wall, the Hunger Wall, appears at top-centre in the background, running down diagonally to the lower-left.

I made the image above from the Charles Bridge on 7 October 2009 with the Canon EOS450D (XSi), EF 70-300 zoom-lens, and the following settings: 1/200s, f/11, ISO200, 70mm focal length (112mm full-frame equivalent). This post appears on Fotoeins Fotopress at fotoeins.com as http://wp.me/p1BIdT-5Of.

Jan Hus (John Huss), Pomník mistra Jana Husa, Jan Hus Memorial, Chrám Matky Boží před Týnem, Church of Our Lady before Tyn, Staroměstské námesti, Old Town Square, Prague, Praha, Czech Republic, fotoeins.com

Fotoeins Friday: Jan Hus Day

Above/featured: Jan Hus looks up at the Church of Our Lady before Tyn – 4 Jul 2008 (HL).

Before Martin Luther, there was Jan Hus …

Over centuries, the Catholic Church operated with total authority on religion, science, and politics and far-reaching aspects on daily life. It’s a nice racket to claim you’re the only legitimate path to God and salvation. What Jan Hus (John Huss) and subsequent Martin Luther would set in motion when they openly challenged the superiority of the Church and introduced the idea of an individual’s direct path to their own thoughts and emotions in the world and to God. Being cut out as the “middle man” did not endear these two men to the Church.

Jan Hus helped bring about “The Bohemian Reformation” in the Czech Republic in the 15th-century, predating Luther’s movement in neighbouring Germany by a century. The US Embassy in the Czech Republic describes Jan Hus as:

Jan Hus (1369-1415), a predecessor of Martin Luther, was an early 15th century Czech theologian and scholar. He advocated church reforms, such as using Czech as the liturgical language, aligning the church’s practices with teachings contained in the Bible, limiting the power of the church to spiritual matters, and stopping the sale of indulgences. Consequently, he was excommunicated from the Catholic Church in 1412 for insubordination. He was summoned to the ecclesiastical Council of Constance in 1414, where he was ordered to recant his teachings. Refusing to comply, Hus was burnt at the stake as a heretic on 6 July 1415. Over the centuries Jan Hus has become a powerful symbol of an independent Czech national identity.

News of Hus’ martyrdom sparked outrage, anger, and protests (often violent) among Czechs, and the movement eventually ignited the Hussite wars between Hus’ followers (early Protestants) and the Catholic Church. Armed conflict ended with infighting among the Hussites, and ultimately defeat of the Hussites at the hands of Catholic forces.

In 1903, Czech sculptor Ladislav Saloun began work on designing the Jan Hus Memorial. Jan Hus is seen looking up and towards the Church of Our Lady before Týn which was the primary church for the Hussites between 1419 and 1621. The memorial was inaugurated at Prague’s Old Town Square on 6 July 1915 to mark the 500th anniversary of Jan Hus’ martyrdom. As Prague was under the rule of the Habsburg (i.e., Catholic) Empire in 1915, the authorities of the day refused to acknowledge the memorial and forbade an official event. In quiet protest, city residents proceeded to blanket the new monument with flowers. The Jan Hus memorial has become a symbol of opposition against foreign rule.

6 July 2015 marked the 600th anniversary of Jan Hus’ death. What were some of the following consequences?

•   1st Defenestration in Prague, 1419
•   Jiří z Poděbrad (George of Poděbrady)
•   Precedes Martin Luther’s Reformation by 100 years
•   World’s largest Reformation monument in Worms, Germany
•   Pope John Paul II’s apology, 1999

More on Jan Hus

•   My Expats CZ
•   My Czech Republic
•   Prague.CZ

I made this photo on 4 July 2008 with the Canon EOS450D, EF 18-55 IS zoom- and kit-lens, and the following settings: 1/500s, f/7.1, ISO200, and 27mm focal length (43mm full-frame equivalent). This post appears on Fotoeins Fotopress at fotoeins.com as http://wp.me/p1BIdT-6WM.

Zizkov Television Tower, Church of the Most Sacred Heart of our Lord, George of Poděbrady Square, Vinohrady, Praha, Prague, Czech Republic, fotoeins.com

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.)
Jiřího z Poděbrad, DPP Metro, Prague, Praha, Czech Republic, fotoeins.com

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.

Alhambra, Sierra Nevada, Granada, Andalucia, Spain, fotoeins.com

UNESCO World Heritage Sites, Around the World

Since 1995, I’ve been fortunate to experience significant travel: first as green graduate student on my first (of many) trips to Chile; followed by the opportunity to live and work in 3 countries on 3 continents inside a span of 10 years. I didn’t give much thought about their relative importance at the time, but I’m lucky to have visited a number of UNESCO World Heritage Sites (WHS).

UNESCO World Heritage logo, Wikimedia CC3 license

( Click here for images and more )

My Prague: the night watch

With visits to the city numbering well into the double digits, Prague started me on a different path, and eventually, to a change in my life.

According to legend, the city’s name, Praha, is derived from the Czech word, “práh” for “threshold” or “steps”. With the city’s geographic location within the European continent, it’s hard to recount the chronicles of Central Europe without mentioning Praha. History and significance permeates the city in the cobbled stonework, centuries of architecture, and stories of struggle and change.

I believe the city is one step of many on my journey and transition from my past as research scientist to a future that remains under continuous construction. Prague has been and continues to be an important part of this process. I’ve fallen in love with Praha – she means a lot to me.

As day passes to night, many parts of the city become quiet and empty, with only the yellow glow of the street lamps for company. Many are taught not to go into areas unknown, poorly lit, or vacant.

But I know Praha enough to see her differently.

I’ve done the legwork by day, scouting out and noting various locations around the city, and imagining their appearance in the dark. With a newly crafted road map in my head, I stand in the hotel lobby. I close my eyes in a mental walkthrough of my map, breathing deeply, slowly. I open my eyes again and step out into the night, guided by the lights of Staré Město, and across the Vltava over to Mal´ Strana.

I’m on the “night watch” with Rembrandt’s painting high in mind. The city and its streets don’t care who we are or from where we come. They lie still, in wait around the next corner.

In this place I’m always on the verge of something new; it’s a set of new ideas, much of them extraordinary, romantic, and meaningful. The meanings signify truth on a personal level for those willing to listen and heed the signs.

“Prague never lets go of you … this little mother has claws.”
— Franz Kafka (1883-1924).

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Pomník svatého Václava, Václavské náměstí, St. Wenceslas memorial, Wenceslas Square, Prague, Praha, Czech Republic, fotoeins.com

Fotoeins Friday: Prague’s Duke Wenceslas of Bohemia

Built by Josef Václav Myslbek and unveiled in 1913, the Saint Wenceslas Memorial (Pomník svatého Václava) is located at the southeastern or upper end of the square which also bears his name: Wenceslas Square (Václavské náměstí). Although many know him by name as a good king in the Christmas song, Wenceslas was a Bohemian Duke in 10th-century AD, and is known today as a national patron saint.

I made the photo above on 10 October 2009 with the Canon EOS450D, 18-55 IS kit-lens, and the following settings: 1/4s, f/4.5, ISO800, 29mm focal length (46mm full-frame equivalent). This post appears on Fotoeins Fotopress at fotoeins.com as http://wp.me/p1BIdT-5BI.

David Cerny, Quo Vadis?, sculpture, German Embassy, Prague, Praha, Czech Republic, fotoeins.com

My Prague: historic balcony for GDR refugees

That’s one very famous balcony.

The balcony on the second floor facing the back gardens doesn’t look particularly special. But here in the Czech capital city of Prague there’s an important connection between that building’s balcony and events leading to the fall of the Wall. This building is also the German Embassy, and it’s where Hans-Dietrich Genscher looked over the crowds from the balcony and made a famous speech in 1989.

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"Quo Vadis?", David Cerny. German Embassy, Praha, fotoeins.com

Fotoeins Friday: “Quo Vadis?” (Where are you going?)

For weeks in late-summer 1989, refugees from East Germany seeking a way out to the West streamed into Prague, and thousands occupied the modest garden at the back of the Palais Lobkowitz, home of the then West German Embassy. A dramatic episode in European history culminated on 30 September 1989, as West German Foreign Minister Genscher addressed the crowds, granting them passage and asylum in West Germany. People left behind countless numbers of Trabant cars, a symbol of industry and productivity in East Germany.

Czech artist David Černý created a sculpture of a Trabant standing on four giant legs, in tribute to those who left their lives to escape East Germany. Called “Quo Vadis?” (Where are you going?), the sculpture resides in the very same garden of the Palais Lobkowitz, now home of the Embassy of the (reunited) Federal Republic of Germany. (2014 marks the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Wall.)

The sculpture is listed on this Czech website listing places commemorating Communist rule.

Directions

Walk uphill on Vlašská street in Prague’s Malá Strana. When a hospital (Nemocnice Milosrdných Sester sv. Karla Boromejského v Praze) appears on the right and an open portal to a children’s park is on the left, make a left turn from Vlašská onto the path to walk past the park. At the end of the path, turn left again. The high metal fence of the German Embassy will be on your left, and the foot of Petřín hill is on the right. After walking halfway along the fence, you’ll see the sculpture “parked” in the back garden with accompanying signage in Czech and German. The original sculpture now resides in the collection of the Zeitgeschichtliches Forum (Forum of Contemporary History) in Leipzig, Germany.

I made the photo above on 17 March 2010 at the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany in Prague (Velvyslanectví Spolkové Republiky Německo). I used a Canon 450D and 70-300 zoom-lens with the following settings: 1/30s, f/8, ISO400, 275mm focal length (440mm full-frame equivalent). This post appears on Fotoeins Fotopress at fotoeins.com as http://wp.me/p1BIdT-5b3.

Summer dawn over the Vltava : Prague, Czech Republic - 606am, 28 Jul 2013, fotoeins.com

Fotoeins Friday: morning threshold over the Vltava in Prague

A morning on any clear day seems to have the power to unveil itself, as the gentle dark of night cedes its cloak to a brand new golden dawn. That’s what you, I, or anyone will see from the east flank of the Vltava river in Prague, with the buildings of Malá Strana (Lesser Quarter) on the other side and Hradčany (Prague Castle) on the gentle western rise. A proclamation of an eternal Czech nation also rises with the new day, the message which I’m sure the legendary Libuše and the Přemyslid people would approve.

This is merely one of countless reasons why I’m in love with Prague …

Just after 6am on 28 July 2013, I made this image at Křižovnické náměstí (Square of the Knights of the Cross), at the eastern or Old Town approach to Charles Bridge in Prague, Czech Republic. This post appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins.com as https://wp.me/p1BIdT-5kF.

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