Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
a solution”) with vague finger-pointing (“Who took away our
hard-won securities?”). To become more palatable to a wider
public and to hide their Stalinist roots, they altered their symbol,
exchanging the unsavory red star for a far more innocuous pair
of cherries (allegedly to recall the Paris Commune of 1871).
Their nostalgic-about-the-good-old-times message regis-
ters mainly with Czechs who find it difficult to adapt to a more
complex and risk-prone society. Many of them (including mem-
bers of the younger generation) find communism's ordered
worldview—familiar since childhood—to be the most easily
comprehensible. Today, they read the newspapers for reassur-
ance that capitalism is responsible for many social ills, that the
European Union is German imperialism in disguise, and—in some
extreme cases—that China is pairing up with Russia to defend
humanity.
The idealistic Velvet Revolutionaries of 1989 thought that
communism would naturally disappear over time—but they failed
to realize how deeply the years of authoritarian rule affected
everyone, even its opponents. Today, the sight of familiar com-
munist faces in Parliament is a reminder for the Czechs of how
little they'd reflected on their recent past. And visitors surprised
by the communist presence in a newly free Czech Republic can
take it as a reminder that difficult experiences, individual as much
as collective ones, take lifetimes to process—especially if kept
buried inside.
Baroque altar, and find the prayer in your language (of the 13 in
the folder). Brought to Czech lands during the Habsburg era by
a Spanish noblewoman who came to marry a Czech nobleman,
the Infant has become a focus of worship and miracle tales in
Prague and Spanish-speaking countries. South Americans come
on pilgrimage to Prague just to see this one statue. An exhibit
upstairs shows tiny embroidered robes given to the Infant, includ-
ing ones from Habsburg Empress Maria Theresa of Austria (1754)
and Vietnam (1958), as well as a video showing a nun lovingly
dressing the doll-like sculpture (free, Mon-Sat 9:30-17:30, Sun
13:00-17:00, English-language Mass Sun at 12:00, Karmelitská 9,
www.pragjesu.com).
• Continue a few more blocks down Karmelitská to the south end of
the Little Quarter (where the street is called Újezd, roughly across the
Legions' Bridge from the National Theatre). Here you find yourself at
the base of...
Petřín Hill
—his hill, topped by a replica of the Eiffel Tower,
features several unusual sights.
The figures walking down the steps in the hillside make up
