another long, but exciting, day here. we got to the Veletrzni Palace at 9am this morning to start our work.
We got to walk thru the hall where many of the national exhibits (showing the work of professional designers) are in process. Some are 2+ stories tall. and I REALLY look forward to posting some of the exhibit pictures after they're done... some are truly stunning already, and they're only in process at the moment.
The exhibit (which as previously stated was built by the University of Montana tech theatre staff and students), was mostly in, and we spent the morning and better part of the afternoon making some adjustments, and getting things programmed and the "exhibit book" together.
We kinda hit a standstill at 5pm, so I headed out to walk the city a bit... I walked from the Veletrzni Palace (located in the northern part of central Prague in a peninsula created by the bend in the Vltava river, walked down to the river, across the Stefanikuv Bridge, alongside Josefhof, the old Jewish quarter. There are a couple museums I want to hit here, but I tabled those for today.
I continued down Revolution Blvd until I hit the Municipal House (seen above), with it's splendid Art Nouveau mosaic-work by Alphonse Mucha (his Museum is near the top of my wish list... hopefully in a couple of days...) I then turned south adn headed down the promenade toward Wenceslas Square
which is about as beautifully tacky and metropolitan as you can get. the architecture --gorgeous, the path up the hill-- arduous, the sheer new-york-centric commecialism -- disheartening... I'm well aware of the financial melting pot the world has had to become in many ways, but there's nothing quite as painful --to a designer, mind you-- than seeing a gorgeous 17th century baroque architecture gem, housing a McDonalds on the ground floor, and a Swatch outlet store on the second. To me, it's wrong... 'nuf said.
I walked up to the National Museum... noticing the sheer detail of the bronze and plaster-work along the domes at top.... and noticing ever so slightly that the bronze detailing on the domes at the BACK of the building are less well-polished....hmm... well... who can blame them? there's enough bronze filigree work on the buildings downtown to choke an armada of donkeys.
Anyhow... I popped over to the State Opera House a couple buildings down, just so that I could see it before I go to the opera there on THU night (forgive me, I'm going to get stage-design-geeky here)... the one ticket I got in advance of my travel was to see TOSCA there this Thursday... now, I'm not a huge opera fan (I like it, I don't LOVE it), but this TOSCA will be using a set recreated from the 1947 design by Josef Svoboda, a noted Czech stage designer, and were there to be patron saint for stage designers, he'd be at the top of the list for who it'd be. he was working with image and video projections on/in/around scenery 50 years before it was actively picked up in the west. a true visionary in the field. tosay that I'm going to see one of his designs in the flesh, is TRULY exciting to me.... geeky moment over... thank you for your indulgence....
I continued my walk further south and heading toward the river again and swung by the Church of St John Nepomuk on the Rock (a saint I've never come across before)... a true baroque gem... wish I could have gone inside.
It got me thinking about Prague, and some of this city's history... Prague is often called the "city of 1000 spires" and I'd believe it... There are no fewer than 6 beautiful churches in a 4 block radius around the apartment I'm staying at... some are Rococco, some are Romanesque, other Baroque, some neo-Classical... it's crazy how much architecture lives in crazy proximity to something else entirely architecturally separate. it also makes you wonder...WHY so many different churches exist here... they can't all possibly be full?!??! but that's one to ponder for another day.
I'll leave you with one last picture... here's the building I spoke of in a previous post... it's given name si Tancici Dum, lovingly known in the world of architecture as FRED AND GINGER... you can certainly tell which half was designed by Frank Gehry, can't you? its' bizarre, its' modern -- I can't say it's my favorite building-- but you can't deny that its' interesting.....
THIS... is right across the street from my apartment here... I can look out of my window and see it lit up in the night...amazing....
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