The New Town - Prague and the Czech Republic - page 85

ss Museum of Communism —his museum traces the story of
communism in Prague: the origins, dream, reality, and nightmare;
the cult of personality; and finally, the Velvet Revolution (see side-
bar on page 80). Along the way, it gives a fascinating review of
the Czech Republic's 40-year stint with Soviet economics, “in all
its dreariness and puffed-up glory.” You'll find propaganda post-
ers, busts of communist All-Stars (Marx, Lenin, Stalin), and a
photograph of the massive stone Stalin that overlooked Prague
until 1962. Slices of communist life are re-created here, from a
bland store counter to a typical classroom (with textbooks using
Russia's Cyrillic alphabet—no longer studied—and a poem on
the chalkboard that extols the virtues of the tractor). Don't miss
the Jan Palach exhibit and the 20-minute video (plays continu-
ously, English subtitles) that shows how the Czech people chafed
under the big Red yoke from the 1950s through 1989 (180 Kč,
daily 9:00-21:00, Na Příkopě 10, above a McDonald's and next
to a casino—Lenin is turning over in his grave, tel. [phone],
www.muzeumkomunismu.cz).
• Now head for the river (with your back to Wenceslas Square, go left
down 28 Října to Národní Třída). Along the way, Národní Třída has
a story to tell.
Národní Třída and the Velvet Revolution —Národní Třída
(National Street) is where you feel the pulse of the modern city.
The street, which connects Wenceslas Square with the National
Theatre and the river, is a busy thoroughfare running through the
heart of urban Prague. In 1989, this
unassuming boulevard played host to
the first salvo of a Velvet Revolution
that would topple the communist
regime.
Make your way down Národní
Třída until you hit the tram tracks
(just beyond the Tesco department
store). On the left, look for the photo
of Bill Clinton playing sa xophone,
with Václav Havel on the side (this is the entrance to Reduta,
Prague's best jazz club—see page 150; next door are two recom-
mended eateries, Café Louvre and Le Patio—see pages 135 and
132). Just beyond that, you'll come to a short corridor with white
arches. Inside this arcade is a simple memorial to the hundreds
of students injured here by the police on November 17, 1989 (see
sidebar on page 80).
Along the Vltava River
I've listed these sights from north to south, beginning at the grand,
Neo-Renaissance National Theatre, which is five blocks south