Lock up your love and throw away the key

Love locks adorn the Love Lock Wall in Malá Strana

 "Love can never grow old. Locks may lose their brown and gold. 

Cheeks may fade and hollow grow. But the hearts that love will know, 

never winter's frost and chill, summer's warmth is in them still."

A symbol of everlasting love...

 Water Sprite Kabourek sits at the Velkopřevorský Mill wheel.  He was created by sculptor Josef Nálepa, who is one of two people who made a portrait of Salvador Dalí

Apparently, Kabourek doesn´t like the love locks...

"Water sprites have various characteristics, e.g. they tend to like alcohol, pretty girls and so on. Kabourek is said to like bottled beer.  'He is good, although he looks gloomy.  He is only bad to bad people', Josef Nálepa describes Kabourek’s character.  'And he says that he will throw to the Vltava all those who put padlocks on the beautiful grids which make it impossible to see the bridge or the water sprite,' added Josef Nálepa.  'It is not a good habit, which originates somewhere in the east.  I think that the city should get rid of this unsightliness, so that we can have the beautiful old Prague'.  And one more thing.  The thing on top of Kabourek’s head is a little flame, which the water sprite uses as a light under water."

Kabourek is right...the locks do block the view of the old mill and most people probably don't even notice him sitting there 

Kabourek, you're going to have to take it up with this restaurant next door to the mill - they're selling locks to people

  

  

 More love locks at a different bridge overlooking Čertovka (Devil's Stream)

And even more love locks.  These are attached to a statue on the Charles Bridge.  That's just not right.

A Stroll Through Praha...Part I

Any day is a good day for a stroll through Prague, but a Friday that happens to be a holiday means the city empties out, which in turn makes for a perfect day to walk around.

Václavské náměstí (Wenceslas Square)

Hotel Ambassador Zlata Husa (Wenceslas Square) was built in 1920

As the name suggests, the hotel consists of two parts - the history of the first is quite straightforward in comparison to the history of the second, which is a bit funny...


The owner of the hotel was a rich widow, who had a young yet extremely unattractive and silly daughter.  The daughter was already of marrying age, but despite her assets she remained single. She never married and for that she was known in Prague by the nickname "Golden Goose" (Zlata Husa).

In 1964 both hotels were joined together and their modern history begins...

The National Museum ...founded on April 15, 1818

 View of Wenceslas Square from in front of the National Museum

One of the many stops I had to make was to this charming shop, located through a pasáž (passage) off Wenceslas Square

Can it be any cuter?  I think not!

 Surround me with fountains and I'll be a very happy girl

Ovocný trh - an outdoor market selling everything from fruits & vegetables to souvenirs, artwork, and leather goods.  I discovered my new favorite handbag maker. Made by hand, no less.  Um, yes, of course I made a purchase, and I'm contemplating deciding on another one.  

My new Kubat.  Love.

 I also couldn't resist a new one of these:

Gorgeous flowers caught my eye

Never even knew there was a tearoom in this courtyard...

That's another thing I love about Prague - all the nooks and crannies waiting to be discovered

Tuesday's House Insignia of the Day Revealed - The Three Standard-Bearers

The figures of three men, most likely cavaliers or standard-bearers, appeared in the gable of the building during its Renaissance remodeling in the latter half of the 16th century.  The current appearance of the standard-bearers, painted on metal sheets, dates from the 19th century.  However, the tale of the three comrades-in-arms that they are supposed to represent is of a much more recent date, and hence most probably inspired by the insignia itself.  There once lived in the house, as the story goes, three standard-bearers, all inseparable friends.  Nonetheless, each served with a different regiment, and when the men were called up to war, they had to be parted - yet they promised one another that if any of them were to fall in battle, he would by some means strive to let the others know.  Months passed; two of the comrades returned in good health from the war, yet the third still remained missing.  That is, until one night his ghost appeared to the other two, and prophesied their own rapidly approaching ends.  To avoid the evil prediction, the two living friend left military life behind and entered a monastery.  Yet to no avail; within a year, death had overcome them both.

Today, the building is home to Cream & Dream, an Italian-style ice creamery, cafe and chocolate shop, with locations all over the world including Venice, Paris, New York, Tel Aviv and Tokyo.

Location:  Husova 12, Old Town

Monday's House Insignia of the Day Revealed - The Green Frog

House at The Green Frog

The Green Frog house has always contained an inn or wine cellar on its ground floor, even to this day.  One of the earliest establishments was greatly frequented by the town executioner Mydlář, known among his other deeds for beheading the 27 Czech lords and burghers who joined the uprising of the Bohemian Estates, carrying out his gory task not far away from Old Town Square in the year 1621.  Another visitor to the same tavern, though of far less gruesome bent, was the renowned Flemish painter Pieter Brueghel.  During his stay in Prague, he diligently made the rounds of various hostelries, compelled rather less by mere thirst than the needs of his art.  Brueghel was always sketching portraits of intriguing faces, grimaces, gestures, movements - and of course fights and brawls.  And whenever nothing of visual interest was taking place, he himself unobtrusively provoked various disputes, simply to have material for his sketchbook.  Yet the citizens of Prague soon saw through the Flemish master's tricks, and so whenever any tap room commotion arose, the passers-by would say, "There's that 'Brajgl' again!"  Adapted to the vagaries of local pronunciation, the word brajgl remained in Prague's dialect as a memory of the great painter, and even today still designates great disorder and chaos.

The Hay Harvest by Pieter Brueghel the Elder

Located at Lobkowicz Palace at Prague Castle

As for the tale usually associated with the stone frog on the building's façade, it tells of a tailor by the name of Lobytek, who lived here in the early 15th century.  Above all else, he loved jugglers and acrobats, endlessly observing their tricks and dreaming that one day he could join them in their craft.  He sewed for himself a green tunic, of the sort that acrobats wore for their appearances, and in the seclusion of his own house attempted to mimic their movements.  One day, he succeeded in placing his legs behind his head - yet reversing the procedure was much more difficult.  While in this position, he was discovered by his housekeeper; yet instead of rushing to help him, she ran outside and terrified the neighbors with a tale about her master having been swallowed by a giant green frog.  Soon, however, everything was satisfactorily explained, and the episode occasioned many a laugh across the city.  When Master Lobytek died, his neighbors are said to have ordered that a green frog be carved into the stone above his door, a s a memorial to the deceased.  It is, however, only a legend, sine the actual sign of the stone frog dates from nearly two hundred years later. 

Today, the building is home to a Brazilian restaurant that is part of the Ambiente Restaurants Group

and a hotel, U Tří bubnů (Hotel at the Three Drums)

Location:  U Radnice 8, Old Town

"Pride comes before a fall and love is blind"

Do you remember last week when I told you about the House at the Three White Roses (aka the Rott building) and that there was a legend associated with the three sisters that had lived there?  Well, here's the story in full...

Three Sisters

Once, long ago, three girls lived here, beautiful and innocent as white roses.  Their parents died prematurely and left the sisters great wealth, but they had no idea how to use that wealth wisely, and soon became proud and naive.  From morning to night they would sit in front of their looking glasses, combing their hair, trying on dresses and jewels and gossiping about young men and marriage.  They all had the same dream, which was that three rich and noble grooms would arrive and carry them off to castles in foreign lands.  And indeed, a handsome foreign prince appeared among the suitors and started to court the eldest sister.  He talked for so long about his beautiful palaces over the sea, and the diamonds he would give her and the balls he would hold in her honor that the spellbound beauty agreed to leave with him.  She packed her dresses ad jewels in heavy chests, her sisters paid her share of the guilders and off she went with her beau.  The remaining two girls did not grieve long for their sister.  Soon a new face appeared among the throngs of their suitors.  A good-looking and wealthy duke from some far-off land began to court the middle sister.  He sent her baskets of flowers, precious rings and necklaces, and after a dew weeks he took her off to his dukedom together with all of her property.  The younger sister was left alone, but not for long, since a young English nobleman turned up in Prague on business  and had eyes only for her.  He told her about his estates full of parks and gardens, and how she would be a lady with her own chateau on an island in the middle of the sea.  What girl could resist?  The youngest girl packed up all the remaining property, the trunks were all stacked in a carriage and the driver cracked his whip.  The house up on the Small Square was left silent and deserted.

Many years passed and no one heard any news of the sisters.  Until one day a traveling journeyman arrived in Prague and recounted all he knew.  Three rich grooms for three proud sisters!  Not at all...they had all been the same man, a swindler who had only been interested in the girls' wealth.  He had taken them off to foreign parts one after the other, robbed them there and left them in misery and poverty until one by one they fell sick and died.  Pride comes before a fall and love is blind.  Alas for three sisters who never heeded this wisdom...

Wednesday's House Insignia of the Day Revealed - At the Three White Roses (U tří bílých růží)

At the Three White Roses (U tří bílých růží)

This insignia is on one of the most beautiful buildings in all of Prague!  This 3-story building constructed in the late 19th century on the site of a far older medieval residence is today more widely known by the surname of its builder.

Any guesses?

As inscribed in the fresco ornamentation of the façade, the name of "V.J. Rott" invokes the founder of the longstanding family firm, Vincenc Josef Rott, who opened his first shop on the site in 1840.  

Vincenc Josef Rott

Initially, he traded clocks and musical instruments, but later extended his scope to include iron tools and ironmongery of all possible types.  In fact, a prosperous iromongers' flourished in the house almost up to the very end of the 20th century, retaining its fame among the citizens of Prague even under state ownership during the years of Communist rule.  The frescoes decorating the façade are the work of the late-19th century Czech painter Mikoláš Aleš, and inspired by the theme of the various professions that make use of iron tools: a peasant with a scythe and his wife with a sickle, a medieval blacksmith and a housewife roasting chicken on an iron spot, a gardener leaning against an iron rake.  

 Mikoláš Aleš

Aleš, whose most famous artwork is on the calendar with allegorical depictions of the twelve months on the mechanical clock of the Old Town Hall only a few steps away, also managed to include "three white roses" that gave the building its name - positioning them on the highest gable.  

Drumroll please, because you know what's coming don't you?  A legend!...

So, according to legend, the original house was the residence of three sisters, as beautiful as three white roses.  Their parents died while they were still young, and the girls inherited a great fortune.  Yet what they had in property did not make up for their deficiencies in common sense, since all three of them in turn fell victim to the same man.  Disguised as three different suitors of considerable property, he married each girl in turn and took her abroad with her dowry of many chests filled with gold pieces - where he then robbed and deserted her.

 Today, the building serves as a 4-star hotel, aptly named Hotel Rott.  There also used to be a wonderful crystal shop that sold stunning glassware, but now it's a Hard Rock Cafe.  

Address:

U Rotta (Rottův dům, U tří bílých růží) - Malé náměstí 3/142, Staré Město 

Rott House, At the Three White Roses - Small Square 3/142, Old Town

House Insignia of the Day Revealed - House at the Stone Bell

  

To hear the voices of Prague's bells when they toll forth the noon hour is an experience never to be forgotten. Only one bell can never add its tones to the rich chorus - the one walled into the corner of the Gothic palace on Prague's Old Town Square.  

The House at the Stone Bell (Dům U kamenného zvonu) is one of Prague's most historically valuable buildings; the first written mention of it dates from 1363, yet the building itself is still older.  It is, in fact, a palace of medieval High Gothic style, whose façade at the time of construction must have ranked among the most beautiful in all of Europe.  The process of uncovering the original Gothic core was preceded by a  full 30 years of restoration work, during the course of which the exterior façade was gradually stripped away of many layers acquired over years of modifications.  

Architects and historians believe that this Gothic palace was likely constructed as the Old Town residence of the Czech king Jan of Luxembourg and his consort, Queen Eliška Přemyslovna.  It is also possible that the building was the birthplace of Czech king and Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV, however, we certainly know that he resided in the building during his adulthood, specifically in the year 1333 after his return from France to Bohemia.  

Charles IV

The name for the House at the Stone Bell appeared for the first time in 1413.  As the name suggests, it was called after a stone bell, whose replica is placed at the corner of the house.  According to a legend, because as you know by now everything in Prague is tied to a legend, the bell was placed there after it had fallen from the Church of Our Lady Before Týn.  

Today, the House at the Stone Bell is administered by the Gallery of the City of Prague, which uses it for art exhibits and concerts.

House at the Stone Bell

Staromestske namesti 13, Praha 1