Sunday May 31st 2009

While you can sample Prague or most cities in 2 or 3 days, and see most sites within a week, it is really on the second week in any city that one really settles down, and starts to appreciate living in the city, not simply viewing it as a tourist.






We walked across town this morning skirting the Old Town, making our way to the Clarist convent of St. Agnes that presently houses the Museum of Medieval Art.

Saint Agnes (1211 - 1282) was born to Premysl Attoakar I and Constance of Hungary. The Premysl dynasty ruled Bohemia from 895 to 1306, and it is the same dynasty that gave rise to Saint Wenceslas 300 years earlier. Agnes had been given an excellent eduaction, and was to be married to further strengthen political ties. But the first Duke she had been promised to died suddenly, and subsequent suitors had their own intrigues. Agnes herself felt an increasing call from God, and with the help of her brother Wencelas IV and Pope Gregory IX, Agnes was given her freedom, and allowed to follow her heart.

She sold off all her riches, and bought the lands for the convent, and opened a hospital, a house for the friars of St. Francis, and gave all she had to the poor. Even as abbess, she cooked for the whole monastery, fed the sick, washed and mended the clothes of lepers, seeing her role as one of service.

The convent was devastated during the Hussite wars of 1419, and for centuries many of the buildings fell into disrepair. Over a century ago, a society was formed to buy back these historical buildings to restore and preserve them. Today, the walls seem plain in their plaster coatings, but here and there, one can glimpse pieces of the wonderful frescoes that decorated these walls in a long lost age.

The paintings and sculptures that the museum contains gives one a good sense of the art of the Medieval age. While I did not recognize any of the artists, their work is exceptional and moving. A wonderful touch of this museum includes a small section meant for the blind to touch the various wood and stone statues. It gave me as well another dimension, the tactile, that one rarely is allowed to experience in a museum.

Again, our original plan for the day was altered when we ran across the Prague Food festival. Entering the grounds we were presented by various tents set up by some of the finest restaurants of Prague. As we wondered about, we sampled various foods, local wines, and of course, beer.

Our first course was a generous plate of various cheeses accompanied by a local Chardonnay wine served to our surprise in a wine glass, not a plastic cup. And the lighlty fried veal cutlet accompanied with a potatoe salad was served on a china plate, as were the very popular bar-b-qued ribs along with 3 sauces. The various beer were served in their appropriate glass mugs.

We spent hours here, but could have easily stayed longer, but one can only eat and drink so much...

We wandered about the winding the streets. Most streets are quite familiar by now, but even so, one is delighted, as if discovering a small hidden treasure, when one encounters an unexpected narrow pretty street, or looking up, and being surprised by another statue.




Without a doubt, a second week adds depth to the experience of a city.



Cheers,


Hera & Anthony