I was there in February 2024 for the first time within my journey from Denmark to Germany and ending in Czechia.
I arrived in train from Berlin (Germany) and at the time of my arrival it was dark and most of the museums and such were closed. However though, I did manage to get into one on that day I first arrived, and that was to a museum about moreso the history in general of the city from the Middle Ages until now.
It was pretty nice, going through stuff such as the Jewish myth of the Golem, which originated from Prague, and they also went through the unfortunate times that were WW2 and the communist regime. I'm glad that at least now it's at least no more, but man has those regimes done so, so much harm in way too many places. It can become really sad just looking at all the harm they've done, but... oh well.
However though, and speaking of which, an aspect that I didn't think of too much before was the part of the museum regarding the city (and country, by that matter) in the 90's and how they were obsessed with all Western stuff, after finally now being allowed to experience them without having a regime prohibiting from doing so anymore.
The 90's were something else, man.
And... yeah, that was pretty much it for that day. However, as for my next day there I first went to the Decoration museum, where it certainly seems that I was more interested in looking at the walls and such there than the exhibitions themselves, but I do still have photos of the cool and interesting things from it, though.
I also went and visited through a guided tour the Obecní Dům concert hall through a guided visit. It's a really beautiful place made in the Art Nouveau style, which I've come to notice that there's certainly quite a lot of Art Nouveau in Prague, which I personally really like. Through my travels in this time I've just come to appreciate this style a lot more than before, as it really is unique when it comes to the motifs, with it now becoming a lot more common to reference mythology (not only Greek mythology, which was a thing for centuries before, but I'm rather referring to the pagan religions that many countries in Europe had prior to being pretty much forced to convert to Christianity), as the whole nationalist movement was really taking place in, well, a lot of places, and people were trying even more to find those routes that distinguishes them from everyone else, so to speak, and decors, typically featuring, very commonly, women's faces, but not only that, also a bunch of animals and such not really seen that much before.
But back into speaking about the concert hall itself. Many of the decorations and motifs within it also have to do with things such as local myths and legends from the Czech lands, and other local things from there.
Afterwards I walked to the Old Town square, where I also came to enter it. But before speaking about it, I also took pictures of some really quite beautiful buildings and such along the way to there.
Such as for instance these ones, which are really beautiful. I love these types of painted buildings.
Such as for instance these ones, which are really beautiful. I love these types of painted buildings.
And then, yes, indeed I went inside the Old Town hall. It's, and I know I'm saying this quite a lot, really beautiful. Within it is a stunning art Nouveau mosaic art piece, and then there are medieval rooms from when it was indeed the actual town hall (a medieval one), alongside some other more modern rooms. There's a chapel there as well, with what I call quite lovely medieval graffiti painted on it. It's also the room where the figures that appear every hour from 7-23 reside when they don't show up outside. You can also go upwards and have some views from up there of the Prague Old Town, which of course I did take on.
And yeah, that was pretty much it for that day, but here you have photos of the astronomical clock of Prague, although unfortunately they're also night photos (which my phone's camera can quite struggle with).
So now onto my next, and unfortunately my last day there. I started off the day walking around the city some more, finding even more beautiful decorated buildings.
Along the way I passed by the Charles Bridge, that, although it was really quite overcrowded, is quite a marvel to see, both with the statues, paintings, and so on it, and with the views from it of the Vltava river and the painted buildings around it.
I got to the other side of the bridge. I walked some more, taking some more pictures of the buildings and such that I found to be looking nice and/or interesting, where I ended up at the Ethnographic museum. I'm personally really interested in the folk art of Europe in general, however, the ones throughout Central and Eastern Europe have definetely caught my attention due to simply how colorful they are. Sometimes they can really look like straight out of a fairytale! However, in regards to the museum itself, its main exhibition was really unfortunately closed at the moment I was there, but I could still see the temporary exhibitions, which even though it wasn't too much, it was still something, and so I at least saw those. One was about decorated scarfs, another about something that has to do with blindness (I honestly didn't really get it)?, and the last about the Roma people who have and still are living there in the Czech Republic, some of their contributions when it comes to folk art.
Afterwards, I kept on going now towards the Clementinum, where I crossed sights such as the National Theatre, among some other things.
And now finally onto the Clementinum. It was a place mostly used in relation to astrology, as for a time Prague was very well known for that, so in there multiple astrological instruments and such being exhibited. However though, what by far I definitely liked the most from there is the stunning Baroque library located in it. It was my first ever time, I believe, that I'd ever seen one of such types of Baroque libraries in person, and well, it really is stunning! Ah, and you can also get some more views of Prague from above from the Clementinum.
Then, finally, at the dawn of night I just proceeded to go on a bit more, where I, again again, stumbled across some more neat buildings, and I also got to come across the St. Vitus cathedral (although unfortunately it was closed at the time I came across it, so I wasn't able to get inside it), but it was still cool to see it by the outside, though it was at night so it was a bit harder to see all the details of it.
