# Prague - slightly off the beaten track



## Karasek (Apr 6, 2008)

Lets visit Josefov, the former Jewish quarter of Prague. Instead of following the hordes of tourists we walk through the rest of the quarter, which offers some impressive examples of Secession (Art Nouveau) and Historism, but also illustrates the national renaissance of the Czechs.

We start near the Municipal house:





























Now the Municipal house:





























Neighbouring house:















































Continuing towards Josefov, as you see on the right side not everything is beautiful:











Close to St. Jakob, directly behind Teyn court:




















Inside of St. Jakob, the second longest church in Prague. Built by Czechs, Germans and Italians:















































In many parts of the old town you don't see a single tourist. Stupid mass tourism:




















Please excuse my slightly Germano-centric perspective, but for me it's quite moving to see that some of these German signs survived the cleansing of the 1920's:




















Entry to Teyn court, called Ungelt, which is German, means means something like un-money and was the place where the toll was collected:











Inside Teyn court:











Palais Granovsky:




















St. Niklas from afar, usually flooded by tourists:











That's why we prefer side streets:















































A modern airplane... at that time:





























Spanish Synagogue:






































St. Simon, sadly closed:






































The most impressive Historism avenue (Old New Synagogue to the right):














































































































Ceremonial house at the Jewish cemetery. When I visited Prague for the first time in the early 90's there wasn't a single tourist and I had the cemetery for myself! But now...:















































Interesting building, dedicated to the most important master builders of Prague during the M.A.:





























And a bit of pristine Prague:




















Done


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## geoff189d (Jun 4, 2005)

What lovely pics. Thanks for posting.


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## Clay_Rock (Jun 1, 2005)

Fantastic photos of a beautiful city. Thank you for sharing your pictures with us.


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## christos-greece (Feb 19, 2008)

Beautiful Prague; fantastic photos :cheers:


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## Assemblage23 (Jan 6, 2008)

wonderful pictures. Prague is like a fairytale city!

You brought back many memories of my 10-day stay in that city. I was in most places you showed.

Thank you for sharing!


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## lovecharlie (Aug 4, 2005)

WOW! Amazing, beautiful old architecture, Prague looks stunning, there must of been many talanted craftsmen to design and build these buildings, great photos Karasek!


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## erbse (Nov 8, 2006)

Übergeil, as I already mentioned :rock:


This wonderful thread should catch a lot more attention!


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## Svartmetall (Aug 5, 2007)

Prague really is a thing of beauty. These are great shots and are a credit to the photographer - thank you for sharing!


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## Munichpictures1970 (Aug 2, 2007)

Amazing Pictures!
Thanks for sharing


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## earth intruder (Apr 4, 2006)

nice pics, we all know that Prague is a jewel


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## Lord David (May 23, 2009)

Prague made a bid for the 2016 Summer Olympics, but did not make the shortlist. Here's hoping that improved infrastructure and more sporting venues help in any future bid and they eventually host! It would be a great city to visit.


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## Karasek (Apr 6, 2008)

Some more pics. This is a walk through the so called new town, the southern part of the town center.
We start close to the national theatre:


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## Karasek (Apr 6, 2008)

Embassy of the Vatican:


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## Karasek (Apr 6, 2008)

The street between the national theatre and the Wenceslas square offers some impressive Art Nouveau buildings:


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## Karasek (Apr 6, 2008)




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## Karasek (Apr 6, 2008)

Interestingly Prague still has lots of old trams:











Goethe institute, a German cultural institution, inside a very impressive building:


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## Karasek (Apr 6, 2008)




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## Karasek (Apr 6, 2008)




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## Karasek (Apr 6, 2008)




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## Karasek (Apr 6, 2008)




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## Karasek (Apr 6, 2008)

Now we are close to the Hradcany (Hradschin). This should be Martinitz palace, a Renaissance building by Andreas Teyfl. The sgraffito is made after German woodcuts of the 15th century. In 1624 Jaroslav Borsita of Martinice/Martinitz bought it, who was previously involved in the Second Defenestration of Prague:





















Schwarzenberg palace, probably Pragues most beautiful Renaissance palace, sadly in bad light:


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## Karasek (Apr 6, 2008)

I will visit it on another trip:











Toscana palace, built around 1690 by Jean Baptiste Mathey, a French, for imperial chamberlain Michael Oswald Thun-Hohenstein:











Archiepiscopal palace, also by Mathey. The front was later changed by Johann Joseph Wirch:


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## spiralout (Jul 16, 2008)

great photos...i just realised i saw sweet f.a of prague when i was there now


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## Karasek (Apr 6, 2008)

Coat of arms of prince archbishop of Prichowitz/Wurzelsdorf:











I didn't visit the Hradschin castle since the hordes of tourists are absolutely horrible. Instead I climbed down into th lesser quarter on the less used Thuns alleyway (Thunovska/Thuns Gasse):


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## Karasek (Apr 6, 2008)




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## Karasek (Apr 6, 2008)




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## Karasek (Apr 6, 2008)

For sale:


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## Karasek (Apr 6, 2008)

Now on side streets to Wallenstein palace (the Dutch are everywhere!):


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## Karasek (Apr 6, 2008)




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## Karasek (Apr 6, 2008)

Old house numbers, which were introduced in 1770 when a new military recruitment system was established in the Austrian empire:











St. Nicolas, which we will visit later:


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## Bristol Mike (Aug 5, 2007)

Great shots there. Lovely thread name and that penultimate picture is a fantastic close-up. The light is just perfect.


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## Karasek (Apr 6, 2008)

Old plaque in German. Most of these German inscriptions were removed during the first years of the Czechoslovak republic. This one most likely survived because Tomaschek was actually a Czech composer (Vaclav Jan Krtitel Tomasek). Plaques commemorating Germans are usually gone:


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## Karasek (Apr 6, 2008)

More tomorrow


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## Marbur66 (Mar 1, 2009)

Yeah baby, Praha is sweet!


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## Newropean (Jan 15, 2010)

_Hezké fotky krasného města!_

Nice pictures of a beautiful city!

Please show us some more. :righton:

Btw have you been to the place in my avatar yet?
It's called Vrtbovská Zahrada and it has awesome panoramas!


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## פובליק פיינט (Dec 28, 2009)

Quite impressive knowledge of Prague architectural background, Karasek. By far the most sound thread about Prague on SSC I think.


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## earthbound (Feb 25, 2008)

פובליק פיינט;54847797 said:


> Quite impressive knowledge of Prague architectural background, Karasek. By far the most sound thread about Prague on SSC I think.


x2, I enjoy the captions just as the pictures, awesome stuff Karasek kay:


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## Karasek (Apr 6, 2008)

Newropean said:


> Btw have you been to the place in my avatar yet?
> It's called Vrtbovská Zahrada and it has awesome panoramas!


Yes, I've been there several times, but don't have good pics of it. I will do a photoset of the southern Mala Strana and the Petrin this year.


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## Karasek (Apr 6, 2008)

Now we will visit Waldstein palace again, but this time the wonderful garden, which gives you an idea how powerful Wallenstein/Waldstein/Valdstejn really was.
BTW: in case you're confused by the different names. The house of Waldstein is of Czech origin, but named after a castle whose name is German and means "forest stone". The Czechified version is Valdstejn. Later Friedrich Schiller wrote a play called "Wallenstein", that's were the third name comes from. The family today calls itself Waldstein.
Anyway, the front of the palace:











The Sala Terrana (by Giovanni Pieroni) in the garden, which is much more impressive than in these pics. The statues are made by Adrian de Vries, who worked all over the HRE. Today the statues are copies since the originals were stolen by the Swedes during the Thirty Years War and moved to Drottningholm:











Frescos by Baccio del Bianco:


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## Karasek (Apr 6, 2008)

The grotto:


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## Karasek (Apr 6, 2008)

This new building was a absolute exception:


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## Karasek (Apr 6, 2008)

More old street signs (sorry):


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## Karasek (Apr 6, 2008)

Now the picturesque and quiet square in front of the German embassy, almost without tourists (thankfully):


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## Karasek (Apr 6, 2008)

Lobkowitz palace, the German embassy, also built by Italian masters in the 18th century:


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## Karasek (Apr 6, 2008)

In this part of the lesser quarter you can find many small and pristine squares, like this one:


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## Karasek (Apr 6, 2008)

Look from the gardens of Strahov monastery:


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## Karasek (Apr 6, 2008)

Done


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## geoff189d (Jun 4, 2005)

The Lesser Quarter is absolutely beautiful. Thanks for all the pics.


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## 1+1=3 (Apr 10, 2010)

Great thread, thanks for sharing.



Karasek said:


> Lobkowitz palace, the German embassy, also built by Italian masters in the 18th century:


The palace has great garden too:









There are even more Lobkowitz palaces in Prague. This one was formely known as palác Přehořovských, later bought by Lobkowitzs.


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## jpsolarized (May 3, 2009)

few countries in the world have a beautiful city, and such a small country has Prague. great


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## Karasek (Apr 6, 2008)

Now the beaten path, the old town quarter of Prague.
We start near the Vltava at the Clementinum. View towards St. Nicholas at the Old Town Square:


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## Karasek (Apr 6, 2008)

View across the Old Town Square towards Tyn church:


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## Karasek (Apr 6, 2008)

Kinsky palace by K.I. Dientzenhofer and Lurago with statues by Platzer. The German gymnasium, which Kafka attended, was located inside the Kinsky palace:


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## Karasek (Apr 6, 2008)

Some pics of the northern side of the Old Town Square:


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## Karasek (Apr 6, 2008)




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## Karasek (Apr 6, 2008)

Southern side from afar:


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## Karasek (Apr 6, 2008)

Now we cross Ungelt and the Tyn church on some back roads:











Just one street beside the kings road all tourists are gone:


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## Karasek (Apr 6, 2008)

Between Ungelt and St. James/Jacob:











We visited St. James/Jacob before, but here are some more pics. The church was built after 1695:


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## Karasek (Apr 6, 2008)

Main altar by Wenzel Lorenz Reiner:


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## Karasek (Apr 6, 2008)

Tomb of Bohemian chancellor Mitrovic by Fischer von Erlach and Brokoff:











Back to the kings road:


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## Karasek (Apr 6, 2008)

House to the black Madonna from 1912:




















This Madonna of the Schönpflug house was made by the workshop of Matthias Bernhard Braun:


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## Karasek (Apr 6, 2008)

House to the red eagle:


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## Karasek (Apr 6, 2008)

Quiet inner courtyard, ignored by tourists:


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## Karasek (Apr 6, 2008)

More later.


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## Karasek (Apr 6, 2008)

On the left the house to the black sun, in the middle the house to the white lion, the latter partly by Kanka, who also lived there. On the right the house to the three swords, where parts of the Parler family lived (at that time the house looked different though):


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## Karasek (Apr 6, 2008)

Old Town Square again:


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## Karasek (Apr 6, 2008)

St. Nicolas, which we will visit later:


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## Karasek (Apr 6, 2008)

Now the town hall of the Old Town, which was so beleaguered by tourists that I could hardly get a decent pic:


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## christos-greece (Feb 19, 2008)

Very nice photos of Prague; especially i like this building here:



Karasek said:


> House to the black Madonna from 1912:


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## Karasek (Apr 6, 2008)

I don't know all coat of arms, but I can identify the eagle of the Holy Roman Empire, the Bohemian lion, the coat of arms of Pragues Old Town, the Wenceslaus eagle, the coat of arms of the Vysehrad chapter, the lion of Luxemburg and the coat of arms of Pragues archbishopric and of Regensburg:


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## Karasek (Apr 6, 2008)

Everyone should know this:


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## Karasek (Apr 6, 2008)

Portal by Matthias Rejsek:










Pragues famous motto at a Renaissance window from 1520:


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## Karasek (Apr 6, 2008)

House "to the minute", were Kafka once lived. It also housed a pharmacy:


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## Karasek (Apr 6, 2008)

Kings road again:


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## Karasek (Apr 6, 2008)




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## Karasek (Apr 6, 2008)




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## Karasek (Apr 6, 2008)

Gothic gable, a pretty rare sight in Prague:


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## Karasek (Apr 6, 2008)

This should be St. Giles:


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## christos-greece (Feb 19, 2008)

And today updates are also very nice, cheers... kay:


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## JAVICUENCA (Dec 27, 2004)

Lovely Prague!!:nuts:


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