Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
unpopular in the post-Communist 1990s), and all centred on a library of his works. The main
library and archive is at Kateřinská 18, but is of little real interest to foreign visitors.
Divadlo na zábradlí (Theatre on the Balustrade)
Anenské náměstí 5 •
nazabradli.cz
• Tram #17, #18 or #24 to Karlovy lázně
The
Divadlonazábradlí
wasfoundedin1958byCzechactorsJiříSuchýandIvanVyskočil,
among others. As well as championing mime as a genre, the venue was also at the centre of
Prague's absurdist theatre scene in the 1960s, with Václav Havel himself working first as a
stagehand and later as resident playwright. Later, it became something of a refuge for film
directors of the Czech New Wave who couldn't get their work shown in the cinema, and it
remains one of Prague's more innovative small theatres.
Muzeum Bedřicha Smetany (Smetana Museum)
Novotného lávka 1 • Wed-Mon 10am-5pm • 50Kč •
nm.cz
• Tram #17, #18 or #24 to Karlovy lázně
The gaily decorated neo-Renaissance building at the very end of Novotného lávka, on the
riverfront itself, was once the city's waterworks. It now houses, among other things, the
Muzeum Bedřicha Smetany
, on the first floor. Litomyšl-born Bedřich Smetana (1824-84),
despite having German as his mother tongue, was without doubt the most nationalist of all
the great Czech composers, taking an active part in the 1848 revolution and the later national
revivalmovement.Heenjoyedhisgreatestsuccessasacomposerwith
Prodaná nevěsta
(
The
Bartered Bride
), but he was forced to give up conducting in 1874 with the onset of deafness,
and eventually died of syphilis in a mental asylum. Unfortunately, the museum fails to cap-
ture much of the spirit of the man, concentrating instead on items such as his spectacles and
thegarnetjewelleryofhisfirstwife.Still,theviewsacrosstothecastlearegood,andyouget
to wave a laser baton around in order to listen to his music.
Outside, beneath the large weeping willow that droops over the embankment, and surroun-
ded by touristy café tables, the
statue
of the seated Smetana is rather unfortunately placed,
with his back towards one of his most famous sources of inspiration, the River Vltava.
Krannerova kašna
Park Národního probuzení, Smetanovo nábřeží • Metro Národní třídas
A short stroll south along the embankment brings you to a small park centred on the
Kran-
nerova kašna
, an enormous, elaborate and lugubrious neo-Gothic memorial sheltering a
bronze statue of the Emperor Franz I (1792-1835), one of the few Habsburg monuments
to survive the nationalist outpouring that accompanied the foundation of Czechoslovakia in
