Prague: A Cultural Guide

by Andrew Beattie

Since its foundation in the ninth century Prague has punched way above its weight to become a fulcrum of European culture.

The city’s most illustrious figures in the fields of music, literature and film are well Mozart staged the premiere of his opera Don Giovanni here; in the early twentieth century Franz Kafka was at the forefront of the city’s intellectual life, while later writers such as Milan Kundera and film directors such as Milos Forman chronicled Prague’s fortunes under communism.

Yet the city has a cultural heritage that runs far deeper than Kafka museums and Mozart-by-candlelight concerts. It encompasses the avant-garde punk group Plastic People of the Universe, the “new wave” film directors of the 1960s who made their striking movies in the city’s famed Barrandov studios, and artists such as Alfons Mucha and Frantisek Kupka whose revolutionary canvases fomented Art Nouveau and abstract art at the dawn of the twentieth century.

Beyond art galleries, concert halls and cinemas the history of Prague has been one of invasion and sometimes brutal oppression. The great German chancellor Otto von Bismarck once commented that “whoever controls Prague, controls mid-Europe” and a succession of imperialist powers have taken this advice to heart, most recently Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. Opposition has taken many forms, from the religious reformer Jan Hus in the fifteenth century to playwright and dissident Václav Havel, whose elevation to the Czechoslovak presidency in 1990 made him a symbol of the rebirth of democracy in Eastern Europe.

In this book Andrew Beattie also reflects on the modern city, where bold new buildings such as Frank Gehry’s “Dancing House” rub shoulders with monuments from the Gothic and Baroque eras such as the Charles Bridge and St. Vitus’ Cathedral. He considers the suburbs too, home to world-renowned soccer and ice hockey teams, gleaming shopping centers and grim communist-era apartment blocks that are often home to Vietnamese, Romany and Muslim minority groups who live in a city with a growing international outlook. The Prague he reveals is an increasingly confident and diverse city of the new Europe.

Genres: Travel, Nonfiction, History

256 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2012

Reviews

[Carloesse · Rating 3 out of 5]

Che dirne? Che è un dignitosissimo viatico per un viaggio a Praga, ricco com'è di informazioni sulla storia, sulla cultura, sull'architettura e l'arte di cui questa città affascinante, bellissima, è ricca.
Per me almeno è stato così. Letto un po' a spizzichi e bocconi prima, durante e dopo un breve viaggio effettuato prima dello scorso Natale, è risultato una guida abbastanza preziosa per meglio orientarsi tra tanta bellezza e meglio assorbirne le atmosfere.
Anche se non possiede naturalmente la forza, il fascino, l'attrattiva magnetica di quell'ormai classico "Praga magica" di Ripellino, che resta uno tra i più riusciti "atti d'amore" verso questa città mai stati scritti.
Comunque tra le 3 e le 4 stelle.

[Katherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5, rounded up. Very detailed and informative, with lots of interesting anecdotes and very poetic descriptions. I'm not 100% sure how reliable it is, though. The author describes Andel, a central neighborhood five minutes' walk from the river with a major metro station and a huge mall, as "in the suburbs." Olsanske Cemetery, five tram stops from the National Museum, is described as "suburban" as well. The same handful of books are quoted over and over again, and all of them are either written by foreigners or readily available in English translation (Milan Kundera's 'The Unbearable Lightness of Being' is referenced at least ten times). I get the impression that the author came to stay in Prague for a few weeks or months, did LOTS of sightseeing and read up thoroughly on the buildings, then holed up for a few months with a small stack of books and movies and put his guide together without consulting many of the locals. It did give me lots of things to look into, though, and it was a reasonably engaging read for a travel guide.

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this was a very informative introduction to this fascinating city. It is not just a "go here and eat this" guide; rather, each chapter discusses an art form, history, mythology, traditions, etc., while pointing out relevant sites. I read it from cover to cover. The only thing I thought was strange was that the author sometimes used novels as sources to elaborate and factual things, which I found a little odd, but it did give me lots of reading ideas. I would recommend that anyone read this before a visit to Prague.

[Servabo · Rating 3 out of 5]

No single building serves as a symbol of Prague. The city has no equivalent of the Eiffel Tower or the Acropolis or Big Ben or the Statue of Liberty. There is, however, an iconic view, familiar to most even if they have never visited the city. It is the view across the River Vltava towards the Hradčany: the arches of the Charles Bridge curve across the foreground, while the castle buildings rise in the background on the summit of the low hill, the soft pastel colours of the Baroque palace forming a harmonious accompaniment to the extravagant Gothic spires of the cathedral. And in this single vista Prague's architectural eclecticism is made gloriously apparent: this is a medieval city, to be sure, crammed full of churches and defensive towers from the Gothic era, but it is a Baroque city too, the two styles creating an architectural whole of symphonic proportions.

[Rin · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was one of a stack of books I checked out from my library to plan an upcoming vacation. It was an interesting book, from a historical and sociopolitical point of view, but not super great or informative as an actual travel guide.