Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
CZECH CUBISM IN VYŠEHRAD
Even if you harbour only a passing interest in modern architecture, it's worth seeking out
the cluster of
Cubist villas
below the fortress in Vyšehrad. Whereas Czech Art Nouveau
washeavilyinfluencedbytheVienneseSecession,itwasParisratherthantheimperialcap-
ital that provided the stimulus for the short-lived but extremely productive Czech Cubist
movement. In 1911, the
Skupina výtvarných umělců
, or SVU (
Group of Fine Artists
),
was founded in Prague, and quickly became the movement's organizing force. Pavel Janák
was the SVU's chief theorist, Josef Gočár its most illustrious exponent, but Josef Chochol
was the most successful practitioner of the style in Prague.
Cubism is associated mostly with painting, and the unique contribution of its Czech off-
shoot was to apply the theory to
furniture
and
architecture
. In Vyšehrad alone, Chochol
completed three buildings, close to one another below the fortress, using prismatic shapes
and angular lines to produce the sharp geometric contrasts of light and dark shadows char-
acteristic of Cubist painting. Outside the Czech Republic, only the preparatory drawings
by the French architect Duchamp-Villon for his (unrealized) Maison Cubiste can be con-
sidered remotely similar.
The SVU's plans were cut short by World War I, after which Janák and Gočár attempted
toestablishaspecificallyCzechoslovakstyleofarchitectureincorporatingprewarCubism.
The style was dubbed Rondo-Cubism since the prismatic moulding had been replaced by
semicircular motifs, but only a few projects got off the ground before Czech architects
turned to the functionalist ideals of the international Modernist movement.
CUBIST AND RONDO-CUBIST BUILDINGS OUTSIDE VYŠEHRAD
Prague's unique Cubist and Rondo-Cubist buildings are scattered across the city. Here are
five of the best outside Vyšehrad:
Diamant (Králíček)
Nové Město.
Dům U černé Matky boží (Gočár)
Staré Město.
Janák's Banka legií (Janák)
Nové Město.
Lamppost (Blecha and Králíček
)
Nové Město.
Palác Adria (Janák and Zasche)
Nové Město.
ARRIVAL AND INFORMATION: VYŠEHRAD
Arrival
There are several approaches to the fortress: if you've come by one of the trams
(#3, #7, #17) that trundle along the embankment to the Výtoň stop, you can either wind your
way up Vratislavova and enter through the Cihelná brána, or take the steep stairway from
Rašínovo nábřeží that leads upthroughthe trees toasmall side entrance inthe west wall. Al-
ternatively,fromVyšehradmetrostation,walkwestpasttheuglyKongresovécentrumPraha,
and enter through the Táborská brána and Leopoldova brána.
