Monday, August 15, 2011

Yesterday's House Insignia of the Day Revealed ...U Zlaté číše (The Golden Goblet)

  U Zlaté číše (The Golden Goblet) 


Originally a Renaissance house (note the stone portal) with Baroque and Classicist adaptations (note the plain façade), the building underwent reconstruction in 1965-66.  The house sign is formed by a relief of a golden cup in an oval cartouche.  It's the symbol of a goldsmith's craft and dates from 1660, and reminds us of a goldsmith who owned the house, B. Schumann.

Today it houses an antiquated bookstore called Antikvariát U Zlaté číše.  It's filled floor-to-ceiling with everything you'd find in those secret cubbyholes in your grandfather's secretary desk.  Dig through piles and boxes of dusty old prints, stamps, postcards and pamphlets to find your own personal treasures - like Communist propaganda cards and Kafka biographies.

Nerudova Street 16/212, Lesser Town