In Prague: Art Part II

As I mentioned in my last post, things fell into place enough that I was able to travel to Prague this summer - the art and buildings there are so great, I really want to share more with you!

Alfons Mucha was an Art Noveau artist who was born in the Czech Republic (Moravia to be more specific).  Many of you may know him by his posters of Sarah Bernhardt.  (It is here that I will tell you that while at the Mucha Museum, one was not permitted to take photos. However, I cannot control my children any longer as they are both adults and these are their photos!)

He also designed many other things, such as postage stamps, posters, wallpaper, theater sets and cracker tins to name a few.  Mucha designed a stained glass window that can be found in St. Vitus Cathedral (Prague Castle).  Below is my photo of the window.

His biggest project, which took him years to complete, is The Slav Epic. It's a series of 20 very large paintings that celebrates the history of slavic people.  He considered this to be his life's work, and gifted it to Prague, which is housed in the Narodni Gallery in Prague where you can take photos.  Here are the photos I took.  They don't do it justice!

They are quite beautiful in a very somber way, and as you can see from the one photo, very large!  The last photo, Slavs in their Original Homeland, is my favorite.

While we were there, we also saw an Ai Wei Wei exhibit of his Chinese zodiac sculptures.  Ironically, he has an exhibit here in Pittsburgh which I did not see, but did see it in Prague!

You might have guessed that my birth year is the Year of the Snake, which is why I took a separate photo of it!

In the Jewish Section of Prague, called Josefov, one can find many beautiful synagogues.  One in particular is the Spanish Synagogue and oh my is it beautiful!  Here are a few photos I took there.

When we left the synagogue tour area, we came upon a market, and purchased a handmade clay Golem!  We were quite excited!

I hope you enjoyed my photos today - next post, I'll share my side trips to Kutna Hora and Cesky Krumlov, very interesting and beautiful places!  Thanks for reading!