Christmas In Prague and The Last Lamplighter

Christmas is a pretty special time of year wherever you are, but there’s something especially magical about Prague during Advent. I’ve been lucky enough to have been in town in early December for the past four years, and I still feel like a schoolboy in a sweet shop.

Lighting the Christmas Tree - this year in the Old Town Square

The Christmas markets are amongst the most famous in the world and there are a number of them dotted around the city. My two favourites are the ones in Staroměstské náměstí and Náměstí Míru (which was recently voted the most popular amongst Prague expat residents). The atmosphere is very special, and despite the crowds, there is such an assault on your senses that you can't help feeling that this is a magical time in a magical place!

Staroměstské náměstí from the Clock Tower (2014)

Each of the markets is filled with food and drink stands, with Prague Ham, klobása (sausages), tredlník (rolled dough, grilled and topped with sugar and cinnamon), and freshly fried potato chips (crisps) being the favourites. These are usually washed down with hot medovina (honey mead wine), or other warm mulled wines. There are plenty of stalls selling trinkets, gingerbread and other cakes, but some of the Christmas decorations on sale are beautiful and are good value (as long as you take care getting them home!).

                 

 

There are a couple of other things that you might not find described in any of the standard tourist guides.

First of all, there are the buckets of carp dotted around town. Carp is traditionally eaten at Christmas in the Czech Republic, and the fish are sold on the pavements, where they are kept in huge blue bins and you select the specific fish that you want, take it home (swimming around in a plastic bag) and leave it in the bathtub until you’re ready to cook it (carp are bottom feeders, and can taste a bit muddy unless there is time to flush the dirt through their systems). The more squeamish - or folk that prefer not to share their baths with live fish - can get the fishmonger to perform the necessary decapitation. Carp may be a strange choice for a Christmas dish, but fish has religious significance because it is eaten instead of meat on days of fasting and Christmas Eve is a day of fasting. The fish is served with a traditional Czech potato salad containing potatoes, onions, peas, carrots, gherkins, eggs and mayonnaise.

Carp on sale in the street

Traditionally, the lights on the Charles Bridge used gas to power them. The city converted all their old gas lights with electric ones starting in 1985 but in 2002 the decision was made to change back to gas in many parts of historical Prague, and the lamps on the Charles Bridge reverted to gas in 2010. All of Prague’s gas lights are lit electronically these days, but during advent, each day between 16:00 and 17:00, one of the last lamplighters still performs the duty in person, making his way across the bridge, lighting each of the forty-six lamps using a long pole. The Lamplighter is instantly recognisable in his red and black tunic and peaked cap.

             

 


Enjoy your Christmas and have a great New Year.

Veselé Vánoce a šťastný nový rok!

Hidden Prague #10 - The Langweil Model of Prague

They say that the best things come wrapped up in small parcels, and that certainly applies to the Langweil Model of Prague. This extraordinary art piece is made entirely of paperboard and contains models of over two and a half thousand buildings taken from the city as it was in the late 1820s. Every element is modelled down to the last detail, house signs, sundials, broken windows, and flaking paintwork, even piles of wood and barrels stacked outside warehouses on the river.

Antonín Langweil (13.6.1791 – 11.6.1837) was born into a large family and after his father’s death in the same year moved to Český Krumlov. He studied business but was also a talented artist, and set up his own lithographic workshop in Prague in 1819, the first in Bohemia. His business didn’t last long and in 1822 he became a library assistant in the university library in the Klementinum where he stayed until his death. He began work on the Prague model in 1826. Eleven years later, before the model was completed, Langweil died. Before his death, and in failing health, he offered his model to the National Museum (known then as the Patriotic Museum) but they declined to take it. It was stored in the Klementinum attic in nine crates until his widow asked Emperor Ferdinand I to buy it. He then donated the purchase to the museum, but even then it was rarely displayed until 1905 when it became a permanent exhibit.

In 1954 the City Of Prague Museum took possession of the model and beautifully restored between 1963 and 1969 by Jana and Jiří Bouda. The model got a new glass case in 1970, which was then replaced by the current case in 1999 which maintains a controlled dust-free environment. The lighting system was installed in 2007.

                  


The model covers about twenty square meters, In addition to the buildings there are over five thousand items of vegetation. The only people in the model are two soldiers on guard. Of all the buildings in the model, about half have since been demolished or radically rebuilt.

As mentioned above, the model is housed in the City of Prague Museum. The museum is located on Na Poříčí in Prague 8, near Florenc metro or bus station. The museum is relatively small and contains a number of exhibits in addition to the Langweil model. These include a  pre-history collection and a medieval exhibition. When we were there, a small party was just leaving, and we were almost alone in the building apart from the staff. We got there just in time to watch a specially created 3D movie which takes you on a virtual trip through the model lasting about six minutes.

If you only visit one museum in Prague, I would strongly urge you to make it this one. You won't be disappointed.