We spent the morning exploring the Jewish Quarter of Prague. We bought a ticket that enabled us to visit most of the synagogues in this part of the city. A few of the synagogues had been converted into museums which detailed the history of the Jewish is this part of the world.
The Pinkas Synagogue has become a Holocaust memorial. Inside, the names--as well as the date of birth and last known sighting date--of Czech Jews who were killed by the Nazis are written on the walls. There are over 80,000 names written on the walls! It's an eerie experience seeing all those names of all those people killed in Prague and the surrounding areas. Even more disturbing are the names of the children. You read their names and their birthday dates, and you realize that the child only lived to be 6 years old.
Upstairs, there is a small museum filled with artwork made by children in Terezín--a transition camp. A teacher, Friedl Dicker-Brandeis, used art as a form of therapy to help children deal with the atrocities they were seeing on a daily basis. In some of the pictures, children drew their old homes, some drew their hope of their return to their homes, and others drew images of daily life at the camp. Before she was deported, Friedl Dicker-Brandeis managed to collect over 4,500 drawings the children made and store them in a secret place in the camp. Over 8,000 children were sent to Terezín--and later Auschwitz--with only 242 children surviving. After the war, the drawings that Friedl hid were found and are now on display at Pinkas Synagogue and at the museum in Terezín.
After lunch, we went on a tour of Prague Castle. It is considered the largest castle in the world--according to the Guinness Book of World Records.
It has an incredible view of the rest of the city of Prague. You can see Charles Bridge, the Powder Gate, the National Theater, and many other important sites from this viewpoint.
We explored St. Vitus Cathedral. Work on the cathedral began in the 11th century, and continued in some parts until the 20th century. On the front of the cathedral, there is evidence of this period of construction in the form of an engraving of two modern architects on the front of the cathedral.
Inside, the cathedral has some amazing stained and painted glass. There is also a panel of glass painted by Mucha that is truly spectacular!
Later, we saw the changing of the guard. Like most castle/palace guards, they are supposed to remain serious and straight-faced throughout their shift. However, the guards at this gate got the giggles during the changing of the guard. I'm not exactly sure what happened to make them laugh, but they were desperately trying (and failing) to hold in their laughter.
By the end of the tour, we ended up at one of the highest points in the area--with a beautiful view into the old part of the city.
We explored St. Vitus Cathedral. Work on the cathedral began in the 11th century, and continued in some parts until the 20th century. On the front of the cathedral, there is evidence of this period of construction in the form of an engraving of two modern architects on the front of the cathedral.
Inside, the cathedral has some amazing stained and painted glass. There is also a panel of glass painted by Mucha that is truly spectacular!
Later, we saw the changing of the guard. Like most castle/palace guards, they are supposed to remain serious and straight-faced throughout their shift. However, the guards at this gate got the giggles during the changing of the guard. I'm not exactly sure what happened to make them laugh, but they were desperately trying (and failing) to hold in their laughter.
By the end of the tour, we ended up at one of the highest points in the area--with a beautiful view into the old part of the city.
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