Category: Prague Expat Life

Melník

The Church of St. Peter & St. Paul, Melník © Ricky Yates

Following my recent busy July weekend, I am now on annual leave until the end of the month. For a variety of reasons, we’ve decided to have a stay-at-home holiday or ‘staycation’ as I gather Americans call it. For these next two weeks, we’ve written out a list of places in or around Prague that we either want to visit for the first time, or re-visit because we missed something previously, or because we want to go in summer having previously visited in another season.

On Tuesday 17th July, we visited Melník, a small town which lies around 35 km directly north of Prague at the confluence of the Vltava and Labe/Elbe rivers. Melník comes into the third category outlined in the previous paragraph as we had been there once previously at the beginning of January 2009. On that occasion, there was snow lying on the ground and the two main attractions were both closed! It was also a few weeks before I commenced writing this blog and some months before I bought my current camera, thus meaning I have no written or photographic record of that trip.

The historic centre of Melník is situated on the top of a hill overlooking the confluence of the two rivers with a steep drop down to the water’s edge. Right on top of the hill stand the two most significant buildings in the town – the Church of St. Peter and St. Paul with its tall tower, and ‘Zámek Melník‘, a Renaissance château belonging to the Lobkowicz family.

Cobbled street in the centre of Melník with Restaurace U Rytiru on the right © Ricky Yates

We drove to Melník and upon arrival, found a suitable parking spot for the car, and then walked into the centre of the town. We headed for the Church and Zámek, and just before reaching them, decided to have a late lunch at Restaurace U Rytiru, sitting under one of the red Budweiser umbrellas on the right in the photograph above.

Cross made from human skulls & bones in the crypt of the Church of St. Peter & St. Paul, Melník © Sybille Yates

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then it was off to see the somewhat macabre feature of the Church – the old crypt which is an ossuary containing the bones of more than 10,000 people, dug up to make room to bury plague victims in the sixteenth century. When the crypt, which had been previously walled up, was re-opened in the late nineteenth century during renovation work on the Church, a professor at Charles University in Prague undertook anthropological studies on the bones and arranged them into some interesting patterns including this cross.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Labe/Elbe River at Melník with the navigation channel and lock that circumvent the first section of the Vltava River © Ricky Yates

Walking between the Church and Zámek Melník, we reached a spot from where there is a wonderful view across the Central Bohemian countryside and, in the foreground, the confluence of the Vltava and Labe/Elbe rivers. A navigation channel and lock, built in the first decade of the twentieth century, allows boats to circumvent the first few unnavigable kilometres of the Vltava. The metal plaque shown below, explains which waterway is which!

Plaque explaining which waterway is which! © Ricky Yates

We then headed for Zámek Melník, not least because of the onset of a very heavy thundery downpour! This photograph, taken in the courtyard of the Zámek, shows some of the sgraffito decoration on the exterior walls of the building.

Zámek Melník with exterior sgraffito decoration © Ricky Yates

There was also this sundial on one of the courtyard walls which was unfortunately rather redundant in view of the weather 😉

The sundial on the exterior of Zámek Melník © Ricky Yates

We took a most enjoyable tour of the interior of the Zámek but, as is sadly now commonplace in many historic houses, no photography was allowed. However, we did appreciate being able to walk through the various rooms at our own pace, without an accompanying guide. As might be expected, there was a variety of antique furniture and historic paintings to observe. We particularly liked the intricate decoration of many of the ceilings.

Church tower and vines at Melník © Ricky Yates

 

 

 

 

 

Before the heavens opened once again, I did manage to get this photograph which shows the Church tower, together with the vines that grow on the steep slope below the Church and Zámek Melník. Most Czech wine is produced in Moravia but some excellent, mainly white wines, are also produced in Bohemia, particularly in and around Melník.

The vineyard below the Church and Zámek Melník can also be clearly seen in the photograph below which I took, soon after we set out on our journey back to Prague by a different route to the one by which we came.

 

 

 

 

 

Zámek Melník and the Church tower with vineyards below © Ricky Yates

PS Before anybody points it out, I do know that there should be a hácek above the ‘e’ in ‘Melník’, just as there should be one above the ‘c’ in ‘hácek’. But as I have previously explained, for technical reasons beyond my comprehension, if I put one in, it will appear as ‘M?lník’ and ‘há?ek’.

A busy July weekend

Prague from Petrín Hill © Ricky Yates

Last weekend – 14th-15th July, was both busy, but also most enjoyable. For as well as Sunday worship, I also conducted my third wedding of this year between Leigh, a Welshman and Klára, his Czech bride. The marriage took place in the Old Catholic Cathedral Church of St Lawrence on Petrín Hill from which there is this wonderful view across the centre of Prague.

This wedding presented very similar issues to those I outlined in my earlier post about my first wedding of 2012. Klára’s parents and older relatives have no English whilst none of Leigh’s family speak Czech. So I adopted the same solution, by getting the couple to produce a completely bilingual order of service to allow everyone present to follow the liturgy and Bible Readings, even when they were not being spoken in their own native language. And I again got my good friend Kvetoslav, Lay Vice President of the Czech Old Catholic Church, to help me with saying parts of the liturgy in Czech, as well as translating my words of welcome and explanation at the beginning of the service.

The weekend started with the wedding rehearsal at 6.00pm on Friday evening. Whilst I am quite familiar with the Old Catholic Cathedral, having attended numerous services in it with Bishop Dušan, this was the first time I had ever officiated at a wedding there. As I have frequently remarked in the past, the geography of a building does impact upon the way one conducts a wedding! Whilst the rehearsal was a little chaotic and slightly drawn out, it did resolve many issues, ensuring that the wedding service itself went smoothly the following day.

Klára and Leigh in the gardens on Petrín Hill following their wedding © Ricky Yates

The bridegroom Leigh, is the son of a (sadly now deceased) Anglican priest who I’d known when he was priest in charge of a group of parishes in the same Deanery as me. There were three other Church in Wales clergy present at the wedding, one of whom, the Archdeacon of Morgannwg, Leigh’s first cousin, gave the address which was interpreted, a paragraph at a time, by Kvetoslav.

At the end of his sermon, the Archdeacon said a few words in Welsh and made the familiar claim that Welsh will be the language of heaven. Loath as I am to correct an Archdeacon, I did inform him and the rest of the congregation that Czech, not Welsh, will be the language of heaven. Why? Because it takes an eternity to learn it 🙂

Even with only half the congregation joining in, we still did come close to causing serious damage to the roof of the Cathedral with the singing of ‘Guide me, O thou great Redeemer’, to the wonderful tune ‘Cwm Rhondda’. And at the end of the service, I was very pleased to successfully give the blessing tri-lingually, in Czech, Welsh and English.

The afternoon reception took place in Villa Richter, on the far side of Prague Castle with wonderful views across the city. The food and drink were plentiful and of a high standard and Sybille and I enjoyed making the acquaintance of various friends and relatives of the happy couple. The Welsh clergy and their families, made frequent enquiries about St. Clements, with numerous expressions of their intention to join us for worship the next day. We eventually left the celebrations soon after 7.00pm but I understand that a barbecue and further evening entertainment was planned.

As I outlined in my recent post, ‘Summer comes to Prague‘, during July and August, many of our regular congregation are away from Prague, either on holiday/vacation, or returning to their home countries to visit family and friends. So it was most encouraging to still have a very good number of members of our regular congregation for worship on the morning of Sunday 15th July.

As always, we also had the privilege of welcoming numerous visitors. As well as two American friends of one of our congregational members, we had four young men from the Netherlands, two young ladies from Sweden, a couple from South Korea, and a gentleman from Malaysia. But did we have any Church in Wales clergy and their families? No! Clearly the party went on far too long on Saturday night. I am considering the wording of my letter to the Bishop of Llandaff 🙂

St. Cyril & St. Methodius & Jan Hus

Orthodox Cathedral in Prague dedicated to St. Cyril & St. Methodius © Ricky Yates

Three holy men from many centuries past, St. Cyril, St. Methodius and Jan Hus, are responsible for currently giving most Czech people a four-day long weekend. For yesterday, Thursday 5th July, is celebrated as Cyril and Methodius Day whilst today, Friday 6th July, marks the 597th anniversary of the burning at the stake in Konstanz, of the Father of the Czech Reformation, Jan Hus. And both days are kept as public holidays here in the Czech Republic.

I find it quite ironic that in this rather irreligious country, there are these two public holidays that celebrate the lives of three great Christians. However, the vast majority of Czech people just take advantage of having four days off work and head out to the Chata or Chalupa – the little (usually wooden) holiday cottages in the countryside that so many either own or have access to. In fact many people also take an additional three days leave with a number of offices and small shops around where we live being closed for the whole week.

So why does the Czech Republic honour these three great Christian men? Because of their contribution to the development of Czech culture far more than their contribution to the proclamation and later reformation of the Christian faith in this land.

St. Cyril and St. Methodius, who were brothers from Thessaloniki, are celebrated by the Christian Church, as 9th century missionaries to the Slavs. But as part of their missionary endeavour, they created an alphabet which allowed the language of the Slavic people to written down for the first time. This enabled the scriptures to be translated and the creation of a liturgy in the language of the people.

The Glagolitic alphabet that Cyril and Methodius devised, was the precursor to the Cyrillic alphabet in which many Slavic languages are presently written – though fortunately not Czech 🙂 This written form of the language is now known as Old Church Slavonic. Whilst it is a language that is no longer regularly spoken, it is still used in liturgy by some Orthodox Churches.

The Czech National Revival of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, which led to the establishment of a newly independent Czechoslovakia in 1918, was very much based around the recovery and use of the Czech language, in opposition to the Germanisation of government, education and culture in Bohemia and Moravia under the auspices of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Therefore St. Cyril and St. Methodius are honoured because they were responsible for the written origins of the Czech language, even though thankfully, it now uses the Latin rather than the Cyrillic alphabet!

It’s down here, as is the Dancing Building! © Ricky Yates

Jan Hus, about whom I wrote a long illustrated post back in April 2011 entitled Jan Hus – Leader of the Bohemian Reformation and Czech Hero, led what is known as the Bohemian Reformation. As I wrote in that earlier post, ‘he was very much influenced by the teaching and writings of the early English Church Reformer John Wycliffe, and in his preaching, called for reform within the Roman Catholic Church. He was particularly outraged by the selling of papal indulgences to collect funds for military purposes’.

However, there are two significant things which Hus did or advocated which are reflected in the way he is now remembered by most Czech people. Firstly, he preached and wrote in Czech rather than Latin as he wanted his hearers and readers to fully understand what he was saying. Secondly, he wanted worshippers to be able to receive communion in both kinds – both bread and wine – and for lay people not to be forbidden to receive the chalice’

It is his insistence on the use of the Czech language that causes Jan Hus to be celebrated today as a cultural hero. He was also responsible for the introduction of diacritics into Czech spelling in order to represent each sound by a single symbol. His opposition to Church control by the Vatican is also seen in terms of defending the Czech people from outside powers.

As I wrote at the outset of this post, today marks the 597th anniversary of Jan Hus being burnt at the stake having been found guilty of heresy by the Council of Konstanz. Nearly 600 years on, this continues to cause problems for the Czech Roman Catholic Church. For nearly all Czech people regard Jan Hus as a national hero yet it was the Roman Catholic Church who most unjustly condemned him and had him put to death.

To his credit, during a visit to Prague in 1999, Pope John Paul II did issue an apology for ‘the cruel death inflicted upon Jan Hus’ and for the ‘consequent wound of conflict and division which was thus imposed on the minds and hearts of the Bohemian people’. But there was still no admission that the Council of Konstanz actually got it wrong. It is going to be very interesting to see how the Roman Catholic Church responds to plans beginning to be made to mark the 600 anniversary of the death of Jan Hus in exactly three years time.

In the meantime, I will be remembering the life, teaching and example of each of these three great men of faith as part of our worship this coming Sunday, in Prague in the morning and in Brno in the evening, including using these two collects.

Lord of all, who gave to your servants Cyril and Methodius the gift of tongues to proclaim the gospel to the Slavs: make your whole Church one as you are one that all Christians may honour one another, and east and west acknowledge one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and you, the God and Father of all; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen

Almighty God, who gave to your servant Jan Hus boldness to confess the Name of our Saviour Jesus Christ before the rulers of this world, and courage to die for this faith: Grant that we may always be ready to give a reason for the hope that is in us, and to suffer gladly for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen

Statue of Jan Hus in Staromestské námestí/Old Town Square, Prague. © Ricky Yates

Summer comes to Prague

The Saturday morning Farmers’ Market at Vítezné námestí © Ricky Yates

After a few false starts, it does seem that summer has finally arrived in Prague. Over the last couple of weeks we have had temperatures well into the twenties Celsius, plenty of sunshine and only the occasional thundery downpour. So here are some words and pictures to give a flavour of our life in Prague now summer is here.

Since soon after Easter, each Saturday morning, there has been a regular Farmers’ Market at Vítezné námestí, just a short bus or tram journey from the Chaplaincy Flat. So now the weather is so much more enticing, Sybille and I are trying to make visiting the market part of our regular Saturday morning routine. We are not the only ones as you can see from the crowds on the photograph above!

Freshly baked bread for sale at the Farmers’ Market © Ricky Yates

Despite now having a new Kaufland supermarket on our doorstep, it still is nice to be able to buy fresh vegetables and freshly baked bread at the Farmers’ Market each week.

Cakes for sale at the Farmers’ Market © Ricky Yates

However, so far we a have resisted buying any of these delicious looking cakes…….

Select your Moravian wine at the Farmers’ Market © Ricky Yates

Or bringing our plastic screw-top bottles to be filled with any of these various Moravian wines.

Church Family Picnic on Sunday 24th June 2012 © Ricky Yates

However, this week sees the end of the school year for both the International and the Czech schools. And this impacts considerably on the congregational life of St. Clements as it marks the beginning of an eight week period when many of our regular members head off on holiday and/or travel back to their countries of origin. Whilst Sunday worship continues, midweek activities cease, to recommence at the beginning of September.

Therefore last Sunday 24th June, before many of the regular congregation depart to various corners of the world, following our Family Eucharist, we held a Church Family Picnic in an attractive small park that lies between St. Clement’s Church and the Vltava River. We were blessed by the recently arrived dry, warm and sunny weather and good time of fun and fellowship was had by the many who attended. Courtesy of the generosity of all those who brought picnic food to share, we were able to invite several of our visiting worshippers last Sunday, to also join us for our picnic.

The arrival of warm summer weather has also encouraged Sybille and I to take more frequent late afternoon/early evening walks to Stromovka Park, just as we used to do when we had Sam the dog. As well as the warmth and sunshine, there is the opportunity of being able to enjoy ‘a cool glass of something’ in the Šlechtovka beer garden, located in the middle of the park. For Sybille there is the additional attraction that many dog owners also frequent the beer garden allowing her to make the acquaintance of numerous four-legged friends and get a regular fur-fix.

The one drawback of Šlechtovka beer garden is that the music played over their speaker system can at best be described as ‘somewhat difficult on the ears’. On occasions, I would struggle to call some of it ‘music’! There is an adjacent covered stand for live music and on one occasion, a couple of weeks ago, there was a guitarist and drummer playing whose live music was much more to our taste.

However on Tuesday of this week, we were delighted to discover upon our arrival just before 6.00 pm, that there was to be a concert that evening, given by students and staff of the Prague Conservatoire. What could be more delightful than enjoying a cool glass of beer listening to the playing of various young talented Czech classical musicians?

The concert lasted just over an hour and was thoroughly enjoyable. One of the highlights was a Sonáta by the French composer Joseph Bodin de Boismortier, played by Dudlajdá Fagotiky, a quartet of young ladies playing bassoons – three normal ones together with a bass bassoon. I’m not sure of the exact meaning of the quartet’s name though fagot is Czech for bassoon.

Dudlajdá Fagotiky playing at Šlechtovka beer garden © Ricky Yates

As you can see, not only were the four young ladies excellent musicians, they also seemed to compete between themselves as to who could wear the highest stiletto heels and shortest black minidress 🙂

Pruhonice Park

The Zámek/Chateau at Prohonice © Ricky Yates

Monday each week, is meant to be my ‘day-off’. But when I live on-the-job with the office next door to my bedroom, it is very difficult to have a proper day-off unless I get completely away from the Chaplaincy Flat. So I’m determined during these coming summer weeks, to take a proper day-off and get out and about to see more of Prague and the surrounding Czech countryside.

Therefore last Monday 18th June, Sybille and I made a start in making that determination a reality. We went out for the day to visit a place that has been on our ‘to visit list’ for quite some time – Pruhonice Park.

Pruhonice Park lies south-east of Prague, a little beyond the city boundary in the Central Bohemia Region. It was still very easy to get there by public transport – a combination of tram, metro and bus. But because our final destination Pruhonice, lies just beyond the city boundary, we were obliged to pay an additional CZK 12/£0.36 each because our ‘Open Cards’ for the integrated Prague public transport system, only cover us when travelling within the city boundary. However, one has to say that this hardly breaks the bank 🙂

The park itself was founded by Count Arnošt Emanuel Silva-Tarouca in 1885. He took advantage of the existing small river valleys to create a series of lakes and introduced an amazing variety of trees, some native to Central Europe but with others from elsewhere in the world. The result is, ‘a masterpiece of garden landscape architecture that is of worldwide importance’, to quote the publicity leaflet we were given.

The entrance to the park, which is spread out over 250 hectares, is alongside an amazing Zámek/Chateau which you can see in the photograph at the beginning of this post. The Zámek/Chateau itself is not open to the public as it is the HQ of the Botanical Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences. But it is still possible to enjoy the exterior of the building which is beautifully decorated as you can see in these two photographs.

Exterior decoration on the Zámek/Chateau at Pruhonice © Ricky Yates
St. George defeating the dragon as depicted on the outside wall of the Zámek/Chateau at Pruhonice © Ricky Yates
Path through Pruhonice Park © Ricky Yates

Our visit coincided with the hottest day so far of the 2012 summer so we were glad to be able to enjoy walking along gravel tracks which were frequently well shaded by the many magnificent trees. One of numerous things that Pruhonice Park is famous for is its collection of rhododendrons. These bloom during May so our visit was a little late to enjoy what is apparently a spectacular sight when they are all flowering. We only got to see the very last of the blooms in a few sheltered spots.

What did surprise us was how few other visitors there were. Apparently a lot of Czech families do visit at weekends but on a hot, sunny Monday in June, we shared the park with only a handful of other people.

Another surprise was the complete absence of anywhere within the park grounds where it was possible to buy a ‘cool glass of something’. We were therefore most thankful that we had thought to pack a two litre bottle of sparling mineral water in my rucksack, before setting out for the day.

On this visit, we only got to see about a quarter of the area of the park so we shall certainly return to explore some more. I’m also sure that it must look magnificent in the Autumn with the changing colours of the leaves and I’ve already made a mental note to visit next May to see the rhododendrons in bloom.

Below are two more images of Pruhonice Park which I hope will illustrate the beauty and peace of this delightful location in the Czech Republic.

A peaceful spot within Pruhonice Park © Ricky Yates

Trees in various shades of green © Ricky Yates