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Vysehrad is a pretty neat place to visit in Prague, in my opinion -- especially if you want to relax away from tourists.
It has a combination of things that make it wonderful for me. Its history, its current use, its location (and views it affords), and what's left on site -- taken individually, warrant a visit in my world. Collectively? Winner.
We'll start with what Vysehrad was, which involves local beliefs and legends. The (unproven) thought is that this is the original site of Prague, founded by Duke Krok in...who knows what year? Duke Krok is a myth, though may have been real. And since he's a myth, his daughters, too, are mythical. One of them is Libuse, who has a "bath" here, and she can be found in some architecture around town. I recall seeing her on a building on Karlova.
Duke Kroc was the first duke of the Czech people. Princess Libuse, the youngest (and wisest) of his three daughters later became queen and married a ploughman named Premysl, founding the Premyslid dynasty (interesting...she's royalty, he's a commoner, yet the dynasty is named for him because he's a man...yea for sexism?). The three sisters had special powers (one a healer, one a magician, and Libuse could predict the future). She prophesied the founding of Prague in the 8th century. So believe the Czechs.
What does history tell us? Well, this fortress-castle has been here for a thousand years give or take. Precise origin dates are unknown (or I can't seem to find them). One of the buildings here -- St. Martin's Chapel -- is known to have been built sometime between 1060-1090, so we can say it's conservatively a thousand years old.
Part of the fun of the legend that could support its continuing existence is its location high on a bluff directly overlooking the Vltava River. It was a perfect place to build a defensive fortress, that eventually became a royal castle. As the city grew, and Prague Castle was built, Vysehrad's importance waned.
The two castles competed (kind of) for two centuries to be the most important in Prague. The heyday for Vysehrad was in the late 11th century (when St. Martin's Chapel was built). Vratislaus II, the first king of Bohemia (until him, all were dukes or duchesses) moved his seat of power here from Prague Castle, at which point the original Vysehrad fortress received a major upgrade: a new palatial home, a church, a chapter house.
Growth continued, but only for a short time. Vratislaus's son, Duke Sobeslav (I'm not sure why he was duke, if his dad was king) moved the royal seat right on back to Prague Castle.
The death knell for Vysehrad (as a royal residence) came when Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV (yeah, the same one for whom Charles Bridge is named) renovated Prague Castle to its current dimensions. Vysehrad was abandoned. However, Charles did renew the fortifications with new gates, a royal palace (though never official seat of government), and started repairing the basilica. This was early 14th century. About a hundred years later in 1420 at the start of the Hussite War, Vysehrad was rancasked. And again, a few decades later. Finally, Vysehrad was left to ruin...
...Until the Austrians came along. Austria-Hungary gained Czech lands as a prize of the Thirty Years' War, remodeling it as a baroque fortress, to use as a training center for their troops.
The main building that dominated Vysehrad (to this day) is the Basilica of St. Peter & St. Paul. It's pretty big. Hard to miss, for sure. Like St. Martin's Chapel, it was also (originally) built in the 11th century. Unlike little St. Martin's, though, the big fella was remodeled in the late 1300s and, again, by the Austrians in 1885 & 1887. It's now a neo-Gothic church. Also dating to this baroque renovation are the Tabor and Leopold gates.
So...what do you get when come to Vysehrad now? A city park, really. It's free to come and go (though I think going inside the church may cost a little money).
The bastion walls are fantastic to take a walk around and enjoy panoramic views of every part of the city, the river, the bridges, just to reflect on the here and now, and the past. The bastions are big enough, and long enough, that you can take some time to just do that alone. There are also benches if you want to relax and enjoy the view.
Inside the fortress walls, you'll find mostly wooded land (thanks to its having been abandoned) with the aforementioned church and chapel, plus some other historic recreations, a few trails, and...well, all around, pleasant places to be. There are a handful of statues around the grounds, including Good King Wenceslaus, and Princess Libuse.
Being as that it's a church -- and a large one -- there's also a church cemetery attached directly to the side and back of it. Creatively, it's called "Vysehrad Cemetery."
As far as cemeteries go, I've been to many, and this one has some of the most interesting headstones I've seen. Not only that, as far as Czechs go, this could almost be their Pantheon. While royalty are buried elsewhere (Prague Castle, for starters), the literati all seem to be buried here -- except Kafka. He's in the New Jewish Cemetery. And, not every famous Czech is buried here, of course, but quite a few prominent ones from arts and letters are taking their dirt naps here. At the end of the day, this is a big, beautiful public park, well worth a visit, and the locals love it. This seems to be one of the places they come to celebrate New Year's Eve. I love that it's not overrun by tourists, though hope that anyone who has read this can make it there and see for yourself.
Things I began to do the morning before the AP Euro exam when I was still studying..
I know, eye shots are really cliche.. but I like it.
Tiffany got me thinking about curtains again. Charlie long had 2 sets of red and 1 set of multicolored curtains on his windows + the puzzle pattern curtains over his doors (yeah no doors here I hate that) and the hodgepodge of fabrics has always been hard on the eyes. While recently shopping for fabric blackrose198472 guided me to a fresh new bolt of $1 yd turquoise fabric. Yeah, he'll love that and now his room looks so much nicer. The bolt was only 12 yds 15 inches so It was only enough for the windows (2-2yd panels each) but I always loved the puzzle print and was not looking forward to seeing it go (was formulating plans for its use so I wouldn't have to say goodbye) and being down to the 2 fabrics is a-o-k.
Este señor enmascarado, andaba por el pueblo con una soga y su intención era "cazar" a las mujeres que por ahí andaban... por poco y me da baje con mi linda novia, pero por fortuna le falló el tino!
From my set: "Roses - A Viewpoint." This is basically straight out of camera...sometimes I think we miss the real beauty of roses unless we photograph them, because I look at these roses daily and yet I'm discovering gradations of color and details in this photograph that I've overlooked with the naked eye!