wanderlust: prague

late post ito ha. although we flew to europe through prague in the czech republic last july 2016, we only got to visit and explore the city towards the end of our almost 2 week stay. amazing amazing amazing. prague is indeed the heart of europe (it being center of europe) and having perhaps the most lovely people we’ve met.

there is reason why the place is known as the city of spires. it’s such a magical sight actually. and i love the art nouveau motif mixed in with classical, art deco, etc design styles as well as modern and 21st century architectural styles.

art nouveau!

this little museum in the middle of the city housed quite a collection of mucha prints but maybe it’s the curation that really got me. over the next hour or so, i just felt such a strong connection (close kami) and fascination to mucha’s work and i love both his fine art and commercial work. a real national treasure of the czech republic.

a few blocks away the 21 epic slav paintings of mucha was housed in one of the national galleries in prague as he intended, complete and in one big gallery fit for them. the works were magnificent and totally captivating. the style was different from his commercial work and that’s pretty awesome. his love for his country was evident in the works. i swear we could have stayed all day and just stare at the works but we could only stay for 4 hours. we needed to eat. haha

 

another museum housed a small collection from three masters, salvador dali, andy warhol, and again alphonse mucha. the price of admissions were for each gallery floor. carlo and i just came from the mucha exhibit a few blocks away so we skipped that in this gallery and just paid to see dali and warhol’s works.

the dali exhibit here showcases quite a number of pieces but carlo tells me it is of his later works. the better dali paintings were his earlier works and it did seem like so. we eventually saw better dali paintings in italy, a few in the peggy guggenheim museum. a set of painted dishes were however also on display in prague and they were gorgeous.

andy warhol was something else. i only realized i was immersed my whole life (entire childhood) with works by warhol and those influenced by him. i was suddenly brought back to a much simpler time while looking at his album and magazine covers. beyond the campbell soup, which is still amazing, and the marilyns, you have the smiths and the interview magazine covers and the bananas. im not THAT old but whatever. ang saya lang.

this hotel’s name rings a bell, doesnt it?

i had the best time browsing through the poster catalogue of terryho ponosky. the shop is sort of an homage to terry gilliam, american-british director of monty python and 12 monkeys and his socks. the shop literally means terry’s socks, or something to that effect. there’s even a photo of terry and his socks in the shop. displayed in the store were some of the most gorgeous czech designed film posters of famous movies throughout the years. i probably came by this three times before i decided to buy something. it’s one of those things i know i’d regret if i didnt do it.  i could only afford a box of postcards so i got a 25-card set, which i plan to frame and put up in my room.

another bookshop near where we airbnb’ed that sold vintage stuff. naiiyak ako sa ganda at kamahal ng bilihins dito. ang ganda ng shop.

the city of spires indeed. prague is magical and enchanting. more photos in my facebook album photodump. i also posted a separate facebook album for the galleries we visited.

do come by sometime and dream a little. or dream big. till the next adventure, praha. na zdravi!