Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
The rather plain
churchofPannaMariaVítězná
was begun in early Baroque style by Ger-
man Lutherans in 1611, and later handed over to the Carmelites after the Battle of Bílá hora.
Although there are chalices, monstrances and a Rococo crown studded with diamonds and
pearls to admire, the main reason for a visit is to see the
Pražské Jezulátk
effigy, a sym-
phony of kitsch.
Pražské Jezulátko
The
Pražské Jezulátko
, or Bambino di Praga, is a 45cm-high wax effigy of the infant Jesus
as a precocious 3-year-old, enthroned in a glass case, which was donated by one of the
Lobkowicz family's Spanish brides in 1628. Credited with miraculous powers, the Pražské
Jezulátko became an object of international pilgrimage equal in stature to the
Santa Casa in
Italian and Spanish school parties) and boasts a vast personal wardrobe of expensive swad-
dling clothes - approaching a hundred separate outfits at the last count - changed ten times a
year by the Carmelite nuns. A small
museum
, up the spiral staircase in the south aisle, con-
tains a selection of his velvet and satin overgarments sent from all over the world.
České muzeum hudby (Czech Music Museum)
Karmelitská 2 • Wed-Mon 10am-6pm • 120Kč • 257 257 777,
nm.cz
• Tram #12, #20 or #22 to Hel-
lichova
Part of the National Museum,
České muzeum hudby
, the city's music museum, is housed
in a former Dominican nunnery. Temporary exhibitions are held on the ground floor of the
magnificently tall main hall (formerly the nunnery church), while the permanent collection
begins upstairs. The first exhibition kicks off with a crazy cut-and-splice medley of music-
al film footage alongside a display of electric guitars and an early Tesla synthesizer. Next
up is August Förster's pioneering quarter-tone grand piano from 1924 - you can even listen
to
Alois Hába
's microtonal
Fantazie no. 10
composed for, and performed on, its three key-
boards.Afterthisratherpromisingstart,themuseumsettlesdownintoaconventionaldisplay
of old central European instruments from a precious Baumgartner clavichord and an Amati
violin to Neapolitan mandolins and a vast contrabass more than 2m high. There are several
violins made by the craftsmen who once lived on nearby Nerudova (once called Loutnařská,
or“Lute-makers' Street”)andanintriguingfolksectionwithzithers,bagpipes,Slovak
fujara
(a shepherd's flute) and the odd barrel organ. What saves the collection from being as ex-
hausting as it is exhaustive is the fact that you can hear many of the instruments on display
beingputthroughtheirpacesatlisteningpostsineachroom.Top-notchlecturesandconcerts
are also held here, in the main hall.
