Evolution of Czech Folk Art & Culture

Day 1

Today was our first day in Prague. After a long night of travel, we arrived in the Czech Republic at a little after 12:00. Everyone was quite tired but excited to start our adventure. We checked into our Airbnb in Prague's Old Town and met our guides, Vit and Bonnie. We then walked all over the city and got a real sense of how old and new have collided to make something very special in Prague. Inaya put it best when she reflected on the day writing, "Prague is filled with different colors, styles, and architectures, all patched together throughout the city. The combination of old and new inspires curiosity and reflection. This bridge between the past and present allows for unique traditions molding and changing with time."

Sarah noted that public art is especially noticeable in Prague's many parks. She wrote, "around the parks there were a lot of older statues and newer art all mixed in together. Many of the people just enjoyed being around it and exploring the different art pieces."

Tucked in a back street near the Charles Bridge is another one of Prague's relatively new famous landmarks, the Lennon Wall. After the 1980 murder of John Lennon a mural of Lennon was painted by an unknown artist onto the wall and as more people expanded upon it, the wall slowly became a place for free expression of then communist Czechoslovakia. It has historically been used for demonstrations and carries a central theme of John Lennon, but it also features designs relating to local and global causes.

After walking around for a bit, we sat and had an unforgettable meal with a number of traditional Czech dishes.

We ended the night by doing a grocery shopping trip at the local Tesco so the students could buy items to keep in the Airbnb for breakfast this week. An unexpected highlight was that there is an amazing rooftop viewing platform at the Tesco that revealed a spectacularly lit up Prague! Stay tuned for more tomorrow!

Day 2

Day 2 was dedicated to exploring the expansive Prague Castle complex including Saint Vitus Cathedral, the Golden Lane, and the Basilica of Saint George. We were particularly interested in learning about art in public spaces and how the artwork in Prague has evolved over the generations. Saint George's Basilica was built in 920 but is made to look quite modest compared to the spectacular Saint Vitus Cathedral right next door.

Katelyn wrote about visiting the Cathedral and taking in the artwork. She said, "While visiting places as beautiful as the cathedral, we were able to see amazing architecture that you cannot see in museums. Museums have very specific pieces chosen and hung in order to see them as the artist intended, however, in the cathedral we were able to take meaning out of basically anything that we saw. There is so many small things that people put into what they build that it is endless, compared to museums that have very specific parts they want viewers to look at."

For lunch we visited the cafe of one of Vit and Bonnie's friends named Kuba. Kuba, in addition to running the cafe, is a marionette carver. His work speaks directly to our essential question as he marries the traditional marionette style with contemporary themes. Almost every inch of Kuba's cafe is decorated in his artwork.

Some of our group are actually well acquainted with Kuba's work as we did a puppetry workshop during theatre co-curricular a couple of years ago using three puppets that Kuba carved.

We spent the evening at a local mall where we had a light dinner and played some games. Some opted to have a second round of gelato. Then we walked home and turned in for the night. Tomorrow we explore Old Town including the Jewish Quarter, the Astronomical Clock, and the Applied Arts Museum!

Day 3

Day 3 was a true exploration of our essential question. We started the day in Prague's beautiful but somber Jewish Ghetto. The museums in the ghetto show centuries worth of persecution of Prague's Jewish community. While many of the exhibits focus on the devastating impact of the holocaust during WWII, members of the Jewish community in Prague faced discrimination through the communist regime which ended in 1990. At one time, over 120,000 Jewish people lived in and around Prague. Now the community is a little over 5000. During the war, many were sent to the largest concentration camp in the Czech Republic, Terezin, where 33,000 Jewish people were killed. About 90,000 other Jewish people from the Czech Republic were deported to Auschwitz where over 80,000 of them were murdered by the Nazis.

One of the saddest exhibits in the ghetto is of children's artwork that was created while imprisoned at Auschwitz. Sarah reflected on the experience of visiting a room of children's drawings created in the concentration camp writing, "It was difficult to look at the innocence of the children's drawings and to know what they were put though."

The students, most of whom have very little knowledge of the practices of Judaism, learned a lot from visiting these historic sites. Many of us realized that we have spent so much time visiting and touring historic churches, but so few have visited other houses of worship. Bonnie and Vit arranged for an amazing guide to walk us through all the exhibits. We were able to cut through very long lines for security checks and provided incredibly valuable insight.

After our visit to the Jewish Ghetto, we went to the Decorative Arts Museum for lunch and a tour of the museum. The museum provided us the best example to date of how the folk art in Prague has changed over time. We were able to see pieces of traditional Czech folk art side-by-side with contemporary pieces using similar techniques.

Jackson reflected on the experience at the museum writing, "The stories and the rich culture of Prague is passed down through their generations of art, both new and old. In the term of 'new art', they preserve their culture by creating contemporary pieces, making 'modern' art pieces while including certain styles from old art work, or  vice versa. In terms of old art pieces, they’re both carefully protected and displayed and in many areas are incorporated into everyday life and throughout the streets of Prague."

After our visit to the museum we headed to Old Town Square to see the world famous astronomical clock. The early 15th century clock features a number of moving figures that entertain crowds of tourists on the hour every hour.

After visiting the clock, some of us had our first taste of trdelnik (or chimney cake), a very popular pastry treat in Prague. It turns out that it may not be as traditional as the vendors try to make you believe (Vit says no one had ever heard of it prior to about the 1990s) but it is delicious. Pastry dough is wrapped around steel pipes which are then turned over open flames. When the dough is cooked it is removed from the pipe and filled with fruit, chocolate, ice cream, or other treats.

It was a long and at times emotional day. We learned a lot and made new connections both to the people and the artwork of Prague. Tomorrow we head to the southern part of the city to visit another castle! Stay tuned.

Day 4

Today was a true exploration of old meets new. We started the day at the historic castle of Vyšehrad which was built in the second half of the 10th century. It was a pretty cool and rainy day so many of us busted out the umbrellas for the first time since arriving in Prague. Vyšehrad is home of the beautiful Church of Saint Peter and Paul. The church is currently being renovated to replace the very old slate roof. Some of the students purchased pieces of the old roof as part of a fundraiser the church was holding.

Today also allowed us our first experience in the southern part of the city. Vyšehrad is built up on a large hill which provided views down the Vltava valley.

We had a really nice lunch on the castle grounds and then took a tram back to Old Town. Using public transportation in Prague gave us an opportunity to see locals going through their daily lives. As many of the students noted, the locals seemed much less in awe of the sights that they are fortunate enough to see everyday.

This afternoon allowed us some free time to do some souvenir shopping. We visited the many small shops on the other side of the Charles Bridge. MC and Sarah went in search of Czech glassware while others found the opportunity to pick up some more trdelnik!

After doing our shopping (and snacking) we went back to the Airbnb to get dressed up for tonight's show at the National Theatre. We went to see the world premiere performance of three new dance pieces by contemporary choreographers. The National Theatre is an absolutely incredible building.

The dance pieces were all very different and provided a great opportunity for the students to see the most modern work possible in the beautiful surroundings of an old and iconic cultural institution. Alex reflected on the performance writing, "Today, we were culturally and artistically inspired by many of the performances we saw at the ballet today. New ideas mixed with old, with symbols of progression such as queer representation and fashion that was incredibly unique. It symbolized how old transitioned into new almost seamlessly, through artistic aspects such as coordinated jitters, elongated movements, and representation through color and shape." During the first intermission we tried another Czech delicacy, the chlebicek. Chlebicek is an open-faced sandwich that actually got it's start about 100 years ago as a meal for actors performing at the National Theatre. Eating the same meal in the same place as Czech's 100 years ago will be a memorable experience.

During the second intermission, we went up to the roof of the theatre for yet another amazing view of Prague.

Believe it or not and much to Mx. JD's chagrin the way home from the theatre meant another opportunity to stop for trdelnik. There weren't many options open so we may have to hunt again tomorrow!

Day 5

Here we are on our last full day in Prague. We had a very active day and got to see a number of new perspectives of the city. We started the day with a hop-on-hop-off tram tour of the city. It was nice way to see new parts of the city that we had not explored on foot and to revisit some of our favorite sights. It was also just a lot of fun to drive around in a very quickly move old-fashioned tram.

We got off the tram to visit the Powder Tower. Built in 1475, the Powder Tower is one of the city gates that separates Old Town from New Town. It is an impressive structure and we were thrilled to ascend the 186 spiral stone steps to the top observation deck. The views from the top allowed us a full 360 degree perspective of the city. Adia reflected on how the view from atop the tower allowed her to appreciate the centuries of slow changes to the city. She wrote, "The perspective from the top of the powder tower revealed how there isn’t much of a line in between the old and the new in Prague. The old parts of Prague and the new parts blend together and surround each other so it’s seems impossible to see a line where the old ends and the new begins. It makes it seem more fluid, since there’s no boundary, only a slow transition."

After we came back down the 186 spiral stone steps, we headed to Wenceslas Square, the commercial hub of Prague's New Town. One of the coolest parts of seeing the square was seeing the statue of St. Wenceslas and the corresponding comic rendition of the same statue located in the Lucerna Passage. These two pieces really reminded us once again of the interplay between old and new in Prague. And, yes, Wenceslas Square provided us yet another opportunity to stop for Trdelnik.

After leaving the square we headed to the puppet theatre to look at their lobby and artwork (the theatre is closed today so we couldn't see a show), In the lonny we were able to find a few benches and have a deeper conversation about our time in Prague. Vit and Bonnie wanted to hear the students' highlights from the week. It was also during this conversation that we got to hear the story of Vit's defection from Prague during the communist regime. He was granted a 12 day pass out of the country and stayed away for over 8 years. He was actually convicted in absentia by the communist party and sentenced to 12 months in prison. He returned to Prague when the regime fell and his sentence was commuted. It was a fascinating story and really provided the group with some context for life in Prague not that long ago.

After Vit and Bonnie headed out, we went across the street to take part in the interactive Invisible Exhibition. The Invisible Exhibition is a unique interactive journey to an invisible world, where in total darkness participants find their way out only by touch, sounds and scent.

It was truly an amazing experience that the students really enjoyed. Their reflections on this part of our trip were some of their most profound of any they have written this week. Jackson wrote, "My experience through the invisible exhibit changed many aspects and views towards those who are visually impaired or blind. Firstly, the invisible exhibit changed my perception of blindness and revealed how talented those people who are visually impaired are. Also, Thomas’s ability to navigate through the blind exhibit shocked me, which raised my awareness of how difficult being blind truly is and how well these people have adapted, which made me more empathetic towards blind individuals. Lastly, I noticed my sense of touch and hearing were heightened, which helped with navigating through the complete darkness." Ava reflected, "My understanding of the city changed when we had to navigate around in total darkness without tools but our hands in the Invisible Exhibit. Trying to figure out how to move without being able to see made things challenging, especially with the level of noise involved in the city. Noises like car horns and sirens without being able to see or recognize that they were there until after a noise was created made me  realize how people cannot always know their surroundings. It changed my understanding because it made me realize the amount of privilege I have for something so simple like being able to see with my eyes. People take things in their lives for granted, and it is important to realize when we experience privilege and when to be grateful for that privilege, like how locals do not always notice or look at the art that surrounds them in the city. Everyone experiences life differently, and I think it’s important to spend time in another person’s shoes to understand how different our lives are, and how we each experience life in a different way."