On Friday, we spent time exploring Prague on foot. There are many curious “attractions” here; and, we set out to find all of them! The famous John Lennon Wall is a memorial that is constantly being updated with new graffiti. In 1988, young Czecks would write grievances on the wall. As a result, the wall was a source of irritation for the communist regime and caused riots between the students and police. This movement was called ironically “Lennonism”. The wall represents love and peace with the original portrait of John Lennon buried under layers of paint. With lots of visitors milling around, two artist were feverishly working when we stopped by to view the wall.
Prague is a city with an abundance of statues. Many are historic dating back hundreds of years, others are more symbolic; however, some are so odd they leave you thinking. . .what on earth? On the way to the John Lennon wall, we finally found the GIANT alien baby statues, at the Kampa Museum entrance. They were massive and with their smudged mechanical-looking faces, they were incredibly creepy looking. Similar “Babies”, also by “rogue” Czech sculptor David Cerny, are plastered up and down the 700 foot high, very ugly and weird “Television Tower”. It is the highest structure in the city. From afar, the babies look very tiny crawling up the tower; but, once you get closer they are well over six feet high!
One statue we strolled by was a ghostly-looking cloaked man with a hollow inside. It sits outside the Estates Concert Hall. We were told that local legend says that if you take a picture with a flash, an image of a face appears on the photo despite there being no facial features on the statue. (We found out about the legend way after we took a non-flash picture.)
The Frank Kafka statue is located in the Jewish Quarter of Prague. The statue is based on a vivid description of a short story he wrote called “Description of a Struggle”. Kafka wrote about a young man riding on another man’s shoulders through the streets of Prague – interesting.
The hanging statue of Sigmund Freud, on a small, but busy, street, was alarming when we first saw it. It looks like a real person attempting suicide. Unfortunately, “Siggy” isn’t seen by many since he is hanging at the top of a building. Then, there was the man riding an upside down horse in an obscure local mall. Like the babies, it was created by David Cerny. It appears that Cerny is the creator of most of the crazy statues throughout the city. The sculpture represents a mocking reference to the more famous equestrian statue of Saint Wenceslas in Wenceslas Square where we are residing.
After our tasty vegetarian lunch (Lesley has turned David into a wild Vegetarian), we went to Petrin Hill to see the Broken Men. It is a memorial to the victims of communism. T here are 7 bronze figures descending stairs. The statues actually appear more decayed, losing limbs and their bodies breaking open, the further away you stand from them. The statues symbolize how political prisoners were affected by Communism. . . .another very sad memorial.
The Piss Statue, another David Cerny masterpiece, was only a few streets away next to the Kafka Museum. It is the actual name of the statue! Two men are facing each other and peeing. We read that this statue is quite controversial since the bronze shape of the basin of the statue is the shape of the Czech Republic. The men appear to be urinating into the country!!!!! Very strange.