October 3-4 – Prague
Today was one of the best lectures, and it was from a Benedictine Brother who lives with eleven of his compatriots in the Brevnov monastery. The Czech Republic is 80% atheist; the rest are either agnostic, catholic or protestant. 5% go to some form of church, and 1% follow the Catholic faith. In contrast, Hungary and the Slovak Republic, both very close countries, continue to be avid followers of the Catholic faith. The Czech surrounded by beautiful churches and cathedrals are just plain non-religious people.
Father Alexis, a young man in his long black robes (under which one caught a peek of blue jeans and Birkenstocks) comes from a heritage in the south of the republic that dared to keep its faith. During the communist period, if one was found to go to church or to espouse any religion, one’s job was in jeopardy. So his parents, both teachers, never went to mass, but quietly they kept their faith and passed it on to their son.
While he majored in economics at Charles University, he has now been in the monastery for eight years. We were given a three hour lecture on the history of the Czech people (from a religious perspective) and the best part was that it synched with the lecture we had had four days earlier. I’m almost able to spout the important dates:
· 9th Century – Cyril and Methodius two Greek brothers brought the Cyrillic alphabet to the Slovak nation and translated the Bible using this ‘new’ alphabet.
· 962 – late 1800’s – the HRE Empire rules Europe
· 14th Century – the halcyon golden age when Charles IV was not only king of the nation, but also head of the HRE.
· 15th Century – the Hussite Movement briefly existed, named for Jan Huss, a protestant martyr burned at the stake
· 1610 – Thirty Year War which divided the Catholics from the Protestants and continues to be a point of contention to this day.
· 1526 – 1804 - the German Hapsburg Dynasty, resides primarily in Prague (not Vienna) and the German language is the primary language of the country
· 1918 – the end of WW I when Masaryk is named President of the Czechoslovak Republic
· 1938-45 – WW II - Czech and Slovak Republics are separated
· 1948 – the beginning of the Communist Regime when all monasteries and nunneries were closed. Czechoslovak Republic is re-joined
· 1968 – Prague Spring when Dubcek tried to put a 'human face' on socialism
· 1989 – The Velvet Revolution
· 1993 - The separation of the country (again) into the Czech and Slovak Republics
No matter who the speaker – be it a religious, financial, or academic person – these dates are critical to the story of the Slovak people. And yet, a mere month ago, you could have put a gun to my head and only a few of those dates would pop out of my data bank. The wonders of travel is that not only do I learn these dates, but I can relate it to those things I see around me be it the physical borders, the monuments in town squares, or the buildings built to honor important people and events.
After our lecture, Brother Alexis showed us the highlights of the Monastery with its wonderful Baroque ceilings, grand rooms used to welcome guests, and the crypts where one could see the original walls of the first monastery built in 962AD. Obviously over time that building was replaced and embellished, or torn apart and forgotten. It is now reviving and the eleven occupants are beginning a new venture - to open a brewery.
I kept wondering how eleven guys, living amidst all this history could figure out how to make a nickel to keep the place going. The state provides some funds since it’s now considered an historic site, they have a small ‘hotel’ associated with the monastery which also provides meals; and the brewery will provide additional funds. But it is a hard row to how in an atheistic country.
After a lovely lunch, we departed and were given a free afternoon. Gay rested her feet, and I went off to the Moucha Museum. Moucha was an artist of the Art Nouveau period known for his large posters for Sarah Bernardt in Paris as well as many structures within his homeland. But he did posters for everything from beer to ink to cigarettes. The museum was quite small, but a gem.
For dinner, we were taken as a group to what was described as a folklore dinner, and which I described as pure hell. The meal consisted of a variety of potato dishes, some meat, plenty of cheap wine and even more plenteous ‘entertainment’. The musical instruments were a hammer dulcimer, a cello, a violin and a long wooden pipe/horn which reminded me of an Australian didgereedo. This was the accompaniment to folk dancers who not only danced lively steps in colorful costumes, but tried to get the audience engaged as well. I just kept sitting there waiting for it to end….which after two hours it did. By then people were drunk as skunks on cheap wine, declaring it to be a fine evening. To be in a large cavernous beer hall with over 300 other tourists, listening to not very great music, is not something I’ll sign up for very often.
Unfortunately we then had to pack our bags to be ready to put them outside the door by 7:00am, as we depart Prague for Bratislava.
I will come back to Prague, there is too much I didn’t see, or saw too quickly. This was a great ‘survey course’ and it bears a repeat visit. It certainly helped that we had perfect weather the entire time, but there is a wonderful charm to this city and its small neighborhoods, not to mention a lot of history, beautiful parks and squares and very welcoming people.
October 4 – Trip to Bratislava
A five+ hour bus ride past farmland and low rolling hills, with a break for lunch, brought us to the capital of the Slovak Republic. No sooner had we arrived and retrieved our luggage from the belly of the bus, than we were off for a quick survey tour of the city. We drove up to the Slavin Memorial which gives one a quick panorama of the entire city which resides on both sides of the Danube River. The Slavin Memorial honors those who died during WW II, and while built by the communist regime, with plenty of stolid, gray statues, it has been allowed to remain since it honors a previous period. Though once again, with derision in his voice, our guide described the monument and its robust communist figures.
We then drove down to the Bratislava Castle, a building which has existed since 900, but which has been burnt down, re-built, knocked down, re-built, ignored and finally is being brought back to its prior glory. Here too were wonderful views of the Danube river, its three main bridges, and a view to the Communist Era community built in the 1960’s. From here we could see the electro-wind-mills of Austria, and the fields in Hungary. This is definitely a city on the border.
To balance the sublime castle with the more ridiculous, we drove through the communist built community which is made of pre-fab cement block high rises, meant to house over 150,000 people (or a third of the population of the city). In the ‘good ol’ days’ of the communist regime, these apartments were given to the workers and maintained by the state. When one married you were given one of these flats as well as a ‘wedding present’ which allowed you to furnish these places. Our guide, Mero, was almost wistful for those good days when the state provided you a home, along with health care, education and a job.
Once the regime had fallen, people were allowed to buy these residences, since the state could not afford to keep them up. For a mere three room apartment one pays 120,000 euro ($165,000). This doesn’t sound bad until you realize that the average annual salary is less than $10,000, and is heavily taxed to allow for pensions, health care and infrastructure.
The buildings were built to last about 50 years, and are now beginning to coming apart. They have little to no insulation, the windows all need replacing, the plasterboard allows one to listen in on one’s neighbors and the core which contained kitchen and bath is falling apart. But the state has a problem – they have to maintain these blocks because how else does one house the labor needed to boost this economy which until 1993 rode on the shoulders of the wealthier Czech Republic? I had hoped to see remnants of the communist era – and here they were. It reminded me of the New York complex built to house blacks which one sees driving from NYC to Connecticut. Lifeless, but functional.
We drove back to the hotel, had a quick dinner and retired knowing that tomorrow was our only day to explore this town.
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