Prague’s Castle Quarter
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
If you only have a couple days in Prague, the two must-see destinations are Old Town and the Castle Quarter. The ideal way to explore the Castle Quarter is to spend a solid day there, taking in the myriad architectural styles of the buildings erected on its grounds over the centuries, and immersing yourself in its sprawling history. But the way our schedule worked out during our weeks in Prague, I ended up making three visits there, each of them for just an hour or two. For that reason I have less to say about it than the other areas we visited – I didn’t get as strong a feel for it as I did for other parts of town.
The Prague Experience site has a good summary, which includes links to more details on some of the main attractions:
Prague Castle is the largest medieval castle complex in Europe and the ancient seat of Czech kings throughout the ages…. Several destructive wars and fires (and the subsequent renovations), along with differing political forces have combined to create an intriguing mix of palaces, churches and fortifications.
The Prague Castle complex consists of Saint Vitus Cathedral (the most recognisable landmark in the city), viewing towers, museums and art galleries, a monastery, Golden Lane, several palaces, including Lobkowicz Palace, and St. George’s Basilica; the latter being a popular venue for early evening classical concerts.
A key thing to understand is that “Prague Castle” is not one particular building. It doesn’t fit the stereotypical image that may come to mind of a single, fortified stone building in the English countryside. Instead it’s a collection of a half dozen palaces, a few churches and monasteries, gardens, and a variety of other attractions. Some of them have their own grounds, while others were built practically on top of each other. This is especially true of the Castle Quarter’s most striking building, the St. Vitus Cathedral – it’s huge, and virtually impossible to take in visually because you can’t get more than perhaps about 50 ft back from it (which is why all my pictures of it look like close-ups).
Visiting Prague Castle introduced me to a word I didn’t know, and to a peculiar habit of the Czechs in Prague over the centuries – defenestration. Here’s the story of one defenestration:
Defenestration is the act of throwing someone out of a window… The Second Defenestration of Prague was central to the start of the Thirty Years’ War in 1618… At Prague Castle on May 23, 1618, an assembly of Protestants, led by Count Thurn, tried two Imperial governors, Vilem Slavata of Chlum (1572–1652) and Jaroslav Borzita of Martinice (1582–1649), for violating the Letter of Majesty (Right of Freedom of Religion), found them guilty, and threw them, together with their scribe Philip Fabricius, out of the windows of the Bohemian Chancellery. They fell 30 metres and landed on a large pile of manure in a dry moat and survived. Philip Fabricius was later ennobled by the emperor and granted the title von Hohenfall (lit. meaning “of Highfall”).
Roman Catholic Imperial officials claimed that the three men survived due to the mercy of angels assisting the righteousness of the Catholic cause. Protestant pamphleteers asserted that their survival had more to do with the horse excrement in which they landed than the benevolent acts of the angels.
In a street outside the Castle Quarter is a statue to the astronomers Tycho Brahe and Johannes Kepler who worked together in Prague just before the Thirty Years War. By coincidence I had just watched the old Cosmos episode about Kepler, so I knew that although the statue makes them look like friends, they definitely were not. Kepler was “the last scientific astrologer, the first modern astronomer and the author of the first science fiction novel.” This was my favorite episode of the Cosmos series – The Harmony of the Worlds. Here’s a good 5 minute clip of it on YouTube – if you like it, you can watch the whole episode on hulu.com. It’s equal parts a biography of Kepler’s strange, sad life, his scientific discoveries and what he went through to make them, and a broad historical perspective of life in Europe during those times.
