Visit Prague: The New Mecca

By Arnie Greenberg
Contact Arnie at
ultours@aol.com

(Prague's magical Old Town, pictured above, makes for wonderful walks. The tower on the left has the astrological clock facing right. It is there that thousands gather every day just to see the movements when it hits the hour).

It is a city of 'one hundred spires.' It was spared the ravages of war and therefore looks like the cities of 'Old Europe."

Some of its buildings go back to the 10th century. But it doesn't feel like an old city. Prague is new in its spirit, but old only in its design. Prague is where the future is. It was recently listed as the most popular place to visit in Europe.

That is evident in the broad boulevards and narrow streets. Prague is bustling with people -- alive with new sounds, sights and ideas. Prague is 'now' and is like walking into a jewelry shop. It is a place where one is transformed by time. Prague is what dreams are made of.

Where else can you visit the ruins of an 11th century ghetto? Where else can you see a dancing building? Designed by Frank O. Gehry, this amazing structure is a reminder of the dancers Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire. He is represented by a stone tower and she by a glass tower, flared skirt and all. Built in the 1990s, this building represents the new, the forward looking tomorrow that is Prague.

But it's not the castle or the great square or even the astrological clock that gives Prague its distinctive tone.

(One of Prague's distinctive landmarks is its 15th century Orloj, or astronomical clock, below, on the southern facade of The Old Town Hall. On the hour, twelve apostles emerge and the skeleton of death tolls the bell with one hand while holding an hourglass in the other. It has many other figures, like a vain man admiring himself in the mirror. The clock shows hours, days and equinoxes plus phases of the moon).

It is the whole collection of buildings, lanes, cobbled streets and bridges put together. It is the New Town and the Josefov (the Jewish Town). It is the Charles Bridge, the baroque gardens and Wenceslas Square. It is the fashionable shops and the great theatres. It is the museums, the great cathedrals and the gentle river, yet sometimes not so gentle.

After the changing of the guard, I walked from the castle where monarchs once dwelled, down a steep hill to the river, where cruise boats drifted silently by.

I noticed the water line where that same river once climbed its banks and destroyed much in its wake. I crossed the 1357 stone Charles Bridge and tower with other strollers, examining the ancient statues and the modern-day vendors. I walked where millions had walked before, into the bowels of a wonderful city filled with surprises at every corner.

I entered the city of Kafka, of Smetana and Dvorak. I stood before the 15th-century clock on the Old Town Square. The monumental prismatic quadrilateral Town Hall Tower, rebuilt after WW II, is ranked among the most beautiful of the hundred spires of this great city.

This historical center is included in the UNESCO Heritage list. People gathered as the hour approached. On the hour, the ancient clock came to life. Death tolled its bell. Vanity looked into the mirror. Time sped by as disciples appeared in tiny windows.

Then, it suddenly ended with the call of a golden rooster. This would go on daily from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. People applauded and dispersed. They walked into all corners, seeking restaurants, shops, parks and museums. Life was unfolding. Prague was offering enjoyment.

I walked around the old Jewish quarter and bought a ticket that allowed me entrance to the main synagogues, the ceremonial hall and the old cemetery. I walked around the tilting stones in silence, marveling at the spot where they stopped burying people in 1787.

(The crowded cemetary in Prague's Jewish quarter was established in the 15th century and contains Renaissance and Baroque tombstones).

Established in the mid-15th century, there are now about 12,000 gothic, Renaissance and Baroque tombstones, including those of Rabbi Jehuda Low and merchant Mordechai Maisel, both dating to the early 17th century.

I heard a teacher explain to his students the stories of the Golem. I examined drawings done by doomed children at nearby Terezin. I examined the permanent exhibition of artifacts collected by the Nazis but not destroyed.

I sat quietly in the seats of the Pinkas the Maisel, the Klausen and the Moorish Spanish synagogues. I read the names of those 80,000 unfortunate souls who died and are listed on giant tablets. The gravestones are a chronicle in stone of the history of the Prague ghetto. About 85% of Czech Jews perished during the Nazi deportations, but the Nazis could not obliterate the tradition of this Jewish town in Prague.

(Prague's distinctive clock tower with its Hebrew letters is pictured below).

The area that was the ghetto is now gone. Only a few significant buildings were saved, the living testimony of a once proud people. The collection of buildings that I saw represents the best of historical monuments of Jewish Europe.

The streets were teeming with visitors buying souvenirs, often laughing, and often crying. It was one of the most moving sites I ever visited.

But there was more to see, including great hotels on the river's edge or the Estates Theatre of classical style, built in 1781 and famous as the first theatre where Mozart's Don Giovanni was performed in 1787. It was on the stage here in 1834 that the new Czech national anthem, "Where is My Home?" was first sung.

From here it is a short walk to the bottom of Wenceslas Square with the giant memorial of Prince Wenceslas on horseback facing the long narrow street square. It was here that communism ended with thousands gathering on the long square and proclaiming their freedom.

I walked to the nearby Mucha Museum, where I wondered at the art of this great art deco designer and artist. I returned to the edge of the Charles Bridge and sat in the shadow of Smetana's statue. Here in front of his museum, I hummed what I knew of his famous "Moldau," that great composition influenced by the river they now call the Vltava.

Prague, the capital city of the Czech Republic, was the highlight of a voyage steeped in history. It is an important historical gem that I must get to know better. I will return there soon.

For official tourist information, contact www.CZeCOT.com.

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