Czeching Out-- Last Post of the Trip

Sunday April 9 was our last full day in Prague as we head back to Toronto early on Monday April 10.
It was a beautiful, warm, sunny day with a high of 19C.  A good way to end our week in Prague.  We took the Metro from our stop -Jiriho z Podebrad to the Old Town Square area.

Our Metro stop

Alain spotted these heritage streetcars- special occasion

Our first stop was the Jerusalem Synagogue. The synagogue was built in 1905-06 and has a Art Nouveau Moorish style.  It replaced three smaller synagogues that had been demolished during the reconstruction of the old Jewish quarter.  During World War II, the synagogue was used as a warehouse, and as a result, was protected from destruction.

Outside of the synagogue

Many beautiful stained glass windows inscribed with donor's names

Inside of synagogue - lots of Islamic arches!!

Ceiling stained glass

There are two permanent exhibits on the second floor.  The first exhibit is entitled "The Jewish Community of Prague from 1945 to the Present Day".  It was a fascinating account of the history of the Jewish Community post war, using unique photographs and documents.  There was a lot of persecution of Jews under the communist regime.  Documents brought to light the details of the Czechoslovak secret police operations against individuals and the Jewish Community itself.  There were periods of hope and periods of despair.  A fascinating history with a lot of detail that we had not been aware of.

The second exhibit was entitled "Jewish Monuments of Bohemia and Their Restoration after 1989".  The Jewish Community of Prague is the main investor in the restoration of the Jewish monuments and the exhibit of before and after photos shows the effort to preserve important cultural, historical and architectural heritage of the Jewish community.  Some of the synagogues date back to the 16th century.  The Jewish Community owns 30 synagogues and 175 Jewish cemeteries in Bohemia.  Many sites were demolished, or left to deteriorate during the Communist era.  Only after November 1989 was it possible to engage systematically in the documentation, restoration and preservation of the remaining heritage sites.  About 200 synagogues and 370 cemeteries have been preserved to date.   The exhibit detailed these restorations.

Example of a before and after cemetery and chapel

After our visit to the Jerusalem Synagogue, we went to an exhibit of paintings and drawings of Russian artist Eduard Steinberg  (1937-2012) called "From Moscow to Paris".  The exhibit was in the Prague City Gallery located in a building known as The Stone Bell House.  The history of the building dates back to the second half of the 13th century.  It had been the residence of the future Queen Elisabeth of Bohemia after her marriage to John of Luxembourg.  It went through a number of reconstructions.  The last reconstruction finished in 1988 and it became of home of the Prague City Gallery.

Outside of Stone Bell House

The exhibit was a collaboration between the Prague City Gallery and the Wiesbaden Museum.  It was a fabulous exhibit about an artist we didn't know about.   Steinberg was born in Moscow, the son of poet, translator and artist Arkady Steinberg.  Shortly after his birth, his father was arrested by the Stalin regime and thrown into prison.  Upon his release in 1954, the family settled in Tarusa, a small town which became the home of many artists and intellectuals.  Steinberg's artistic talent was encouraged by his father.  He moved to Moscow in 1962 and was part of the nonconformist movement.  In the 1970s, he began to create his own version of geometrical abstraction, following in the tradition of the Suprematist movement.  He used the cross and triangle as Christian symbols  In the 1990s, he moved to Paris, but continued to return to Russia in the summers to find inspiration in the countryside.  He bought a house in Tarusa.

His work was brought to public attention in Czechoslovakia in the 1960s by art historian Jindrich Chalupecky.  His first retrospective show in Moscow took place after the fall of the Berlin wall.

Composition 1983

Steinberg's compositions of geometric forms owe much to Kazimir Malevich, who conceived of art as a spiritual activity whose purpose was to free man from the tether of natural forms and give him a new vision of the world.

                                                This picture was an homage to Malevich

He created his "Village Series" paintings  in the 1980a during and after his summer months spent in his old village in Russia.   Steinberg commented that "in the church, there are obituaries, which I tried to reproduce in art."

Compositon-Born/Died 1986

Composition Man and Fish 1987


There were a number of abstractions from the 1990s in the exhibit.

Composition 1998

Composition 1997

Composition The Black Month of September 2001

Composition - Rene Magritte 1998

In the last room of the exhibit, there was a display of four very large paintings entitled Earth- Structure-Sphere-Light (four part series) 1992.  These paintings had been commissioned by the R&V Insurance Group in Wiesbaden and brought his work to the attention of a German audience.

Earth

Structure

Light

Sphere

We both really enjoyed the exhibit and it was beautifully displayed in the Old Stone Bell House.

After the exhibit, we stopped at One Sip, another small cafe.  They were serving Round Hill beans from London England.

At One Sip with the Spirit machine (some Toronto coffee shops have this machine)

We went to cross the river at a bridge just north of the Charles Bridge.  We passed the home of the Czech Philharmonic, celebrating its 121st season.

Home of the Czech Philharmonic  - 121st season!!

Cherry blossoms--- there are a lot of parks and green space in Prague

We were near the Lennon Wall so went to check it out.  Since the 1980s, it has been filled with John Lennon-inspired graffiti and pieces of lyrics from Beatles' songs.  In 1988, the wall was a source of irritation for the communist regime.  Young Czechs would write grievances on the wall.

Interestingly, on November 17, 2014, the 25th anniversary of the Velvet Revolution, the wall was painted over in pure white by a group of art students, with only the text "wall is over".  Needless to say, the Lennon graffiti is back today.

At the Lennon wall

The art in 2017

Large crowd checking out the Lennon wall

We walked by a english-language bookstore called "Shakespeare and Sons", clearly a take-off on the famous Paris bookstore Shakespeare & Co.

Shakespeare and Sons in Prague- English language bookstore 

We walked back to the Museum Kampa and in addition to the Babies, which we had earlier seen, we passed these penguins on the water.

Penguins beside the Museum Kampa

Babies again

The sculpture garden portion of the museum was accessible to the public.  Some interesting pieces.

Witness/Unknown Witness/Narrow Man - Olbram Zoubek (b. 1926) 1964 - 1967

Rider- Michal Gabriel (b. 1960) 2008-09

We headed over to the Cafe Savoy for their lovely potato mushroom soup and a piece of apple strudel.

In front of wine room alcove and decorated ceiling

View of Cafe Savoy

We crossed back over the Vltava river - lots of people out on the river as it was a warm day.

Out on the river 

View of the Dancing House from the other side of the river

Alain on the bridge

Lots of boats on the river

View of Church of Our Lady Before Tyn in the background in Old Town

On the bridge- hard work

National Theatre

We passed a building that we later learnt belonged to the Czech Bar Association.  There was a plaque commemorating the start of the Velvet Revolution of November 17, 1989.

The building was closed on Sunday, but there was a small photo exhibit of the events of 1989.

We walked back to the Metro and passed an installation where elements of the head move, by David Cerny entitled "K" done in 2014.

K- David Cerny 2014

                                                Head swivelling - picture taken a few minutes later

We headed back to the apartment for a fish dinner.  It was a great last day to our adventure.  We would highly recommend visiting Prague.  Definitely, give it a week to explore.

We had a long day heading back to Toronto (up at 4:00 a.m., 7:00 a.m. flight to Amsterdam (arriving at 8:30 a.m.), three hour layover and the flight at 11:30 a.m. to Toronto (arriving 1:45 p.m. Toronto time).   Thanks to everyone for joining us on our adventure in Greece and Prague.