I knew nothing about this city before coming here. Come to think of it I knew nothing about this country. But after driving 3 hours from Austria to Prague we will never not remember what the flag looks like. There were 500 billboards on the road and each one of them had the Czeck flag. (Picture not taken cause I was driving responsibly).
One figure we learned about was King Wenceslas. He was the duke here in the late 900s. Here he is overlooking his proudly looking over his square
It is quite an impressive statue. The Duke was known to be a kind man with legends saying at night he would go out barefoot in the cold and give food and warm clothes to beggars, widows, and visit prisoners in Jail.
He was brutally killed by his brother and soon after the cult of Wenceslas started. Someone made him a king and a pope eventually made him a saint.
In the 1800s (like a thousand years after his life) a song sung at Christmas was made for him. I had heard the song but never listened to the words. Very moving. “Good King Wenceslas looked out on the feast of Stephen…”.
Prague also has a very irreverent artist who I like a lot. Here is his silly sculpture of King Wenceslas
He also has a fun sculpture of Sigmund Freud hanging high over the tourists
And finally this strange head
His name is David Cerny and here is some more of his weird art.
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