Walking Tours of Prague #1

The last few days we have had “orientations” where Jan, our resident director, takes us to neighborhoods around the city and shows us historical landmarks, local retreats and interesting facts about the Czech culture.

In our last orientation we learned about the surrounding area of Charles University which is both beautiful in both old architecture and historical setting. When one asks about Czech Republic the most common thing I hear in response is do you mean Czechoslovakia? Many people it seems have yet to learn that Czech Republic and Slovak Republic are two different countries since 1993. Most of us, including myself, know very little of the area’s past but understand that Czechoslavakia was part of the Eastern Block during the Communist Rule in Eastern Europe. Now, not having taken my Modern History class yet I still have a lot to learn but it was most rewarding following a local around Prague as he told us stories of not his grandfathers’ or his fathers’ war but his own-Czech is only 17 years old, he himself was a part of the Velvet Revolution. What is so fascinating to me is that this man and his generation in the country was a part of this incredible movement. Most historical events in my textbooks during high school and college force me to find essays or books on firsthand experience of which their authors died many years ago. But here he was, standing in front of us, and I was overcome with awe as I stood in the place where such an event occurred and where a local (no older than my dad!) could tell me about his participation.
It was Spring of 1989 and Jan was attending the Charles University which campus sprawls across a tall hill in the center of Prague. He was part of the College of Chemistry which he explained was one of the only colleges where Czechoslovakians could be admitted without having any relationship with the Communist Party leaders who occupied the country during what we know as WWII. During the time citizens were completely unrest with the communist party rule (as you can imagine) but could do little about it especially since the teachers and many students throughout the university were loyal to the Communist Party. One day someone organized a small student demonstration, we have these at UNR all the time and Jan said they were not irregular in Prague either; so few attended that the Communist Party felt no threat. On this day Jan went because a friend was going and because he too believed in the ideals, he was not worried about his professors because he knew that they-in the college of chemistry- also believed in liberation. He remembered that there were around 2,000 students there which was not a large amount at all for the population of the school and the population of the city. They proceeded to talk about liberation in a peaceful protest and then marched from Charles University to the popular town square Dopravni Plan. There they were met by riot policemen and beat down for this peaceful protest. The days following many students who participated were locked out of their own colleges by their professors and classmates. But this student movement grabbed the attention the rest of Czechoslovakia needed to cause bubbling courage to explode; the next protest gathered 200,000 citizens and then 500,000. At the New Year the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia relinquished power and dismantled the single-party state. The plaque below now hangs in Charles University where the demonstration took place. The inscription reads, “If not us, who? If not now, when?”. Beautiful, and so magical to experience Jan’s story!

View from the top of Charles University

Charles University Building

Old Town Square, Old Astronomical Clock (more on this historical site later!)

Charles Bridge

Cute little Shakespeare Bookstore!

Fancy Traditional Czech meal; Beef 

Delicious bundt chocolate chip /lemon cake desert

Plaque at Charles University as described above