These Streets, They Got a History

When people ask me how Prague is, the first word out of my mouth is usually "beautiful". There's a very good reason that directors like to shoot films in Prague -- you can find almost any style of architecture in parts of the city. Now, I don't claim to be any kind of architecture historian. I know what I like and I know what I'm learning.

People in the States associate Prague with older styles, like classic gothic churches and cathedrals. Or Baroque. Or Renaissance. One of the things I've learned since I've been here is that Prague prides itself on being on the cutting edge of architectural design. Proud of the buildings it has and proud to be a forerunner in more modern architecture.

Currently, there are some debates about a new National Library that was supposed to go up and work has stalled early on in the process. The city held an international contest for a design for a new National Library to replace the current one, the Klementinum. During the 2002 floods, the library suffered massive amounts of damage to their archives. The library does smell slightly moldy but I expect that part of that is simply age. The buildings are also not easily adaptable to the new technology -- lights hang strangely from the ceiling, they use a paper cataloging system, they have no room for computers.

The proposal that won was a post-modernist structure referred to jokingly as "the blob". The city declared it the winner, but has since come up with reasons not to build it that attempt to skirt around the issue of its appearance. In model, it looks green with accents of purple, but my host mother explained that the material is supposed to reflect the light of the time of day. When I asked her about it, she gave me the response that seems to echo in the sentiments of other Czechs: Although it's not perhaps the most attractive building, it is the building that won the contest. And although it's different from the other structures around it, it's an opportunity for Prague to maintain its architectural reputation because it would be the first postmodern building in Prague.

How To Recognize Architecture Types in Prague




Gothic -- this is most commonly found in Hradcanska (I still can't figure out how to find some of the accents on my computer for Czech so I apologize for the butchered names of places) or Stare Mesto. This is St Vitus Cathedral in Prague Castle -- the castle will be its own entry one of these days.



Renaissance-- I've fallen in love with a style of Renaissance architectural design called scraffito. It's pretty much one of the only ways that I can distinguish Renaissance buildings and I've been keeping track of the ones I find in Prague. This is Schwarzenberg Castle



Cubist -- Prague is one of the few places in the world that you will see Cubist architecture. Seeing as the theory behind Cubism was centered around 2D images, the concept of Cubist architecture seems, well, contradictory. This is the House of the Black Madonna is Stare Mesto.

More Recent:

Communist era apartment complex:


Frank Gehry's "Dancing House":





This has been my classroom for the last two weeks. We attend classes in museums, in random coffeeshops tucked in narrow cobblestoned streets and have one of the most amazing views of the city skyline from the balcony of our penthouse schoolroom.