layered histories

i'm going to have a go at writing another real entry.

there is a sign in the metro for an exhibit called 'layered histories' that is supposedly on our street, although i've not yet seen it. i've been thinking about that exhibit title though. i think that, if i were called upon to sum up prague in two words, 'layered histories' would probably be the two words i would choose.

an example: one of the many ancient synangogues within a few blocks of my home is called the old-new synagogue. the story of it's name is simple. a long time ago (i don't remember exactly when) when the jewish population of prague was looking for a place to build a new synagogue, they decided upon one location for which they would need to level a small hill. they leveled the hill and were surprised to find the foundation of an older synagogue. they simply used the old ruins as the foundation for their new place of worship. thus, the old-new synagogue.

and i feel that the story of this one building somewhat represents the story of prague. it is just layers upon layers of histories, cultures, dynasties and regimes.

almost every czech person i've spoken with for any length of time has mentioned something about architecture. at first i thought it was coincidence. then i thought it was some strange national preoccupation. and then i realized that OF COURSE everyone is preoccupied with architectual periods and styles here. every building fits into one of several of these periods. the architecture of almost any building in central prague, like the building of the old-new synagogue, tells the story of it's construction. who built it? when? why? what is unique about it? what is uniform? sometimes the buildings that seem the most beautiful are precisely those buildings that 'typify the style of the period.' i'm always disappointed when my favorite buildings are typical. and i'm always amazed too. a typical prague building can outshine a thousand austin houses and offices. i couldn't even begin to describe the extraordinary prague structures.

several of the buildings here are layered. 'to your right you will see a baroque palace, but you will notice that some of the paint has been peeled away to reveal the historical etchings of the renaissance period.' or 'this was built during the gothic period, but the interior has been redone in the baroque style. etc.


the streets are layered. old town square, for instance, has several cellar restaurants. the reason that the cellars are used is that these rooms used to be street levels, but due to excessive flooding, the streets were piled higher and higher with cobble stones, and now they are several feet above their original position.

jan palach square. this is the square where the university is located. it used to be a square dedicated to the red army and communism. there was a large star formed from red flowers in the center of it. now it is named after jan palach, a student at charles university, who, to protest the occupation of czechoslovakia after the warsaw pact, burned himself alive in wenceslas square in january, 1969. since his death, several other young people have immolated themselves in acts of protest.

the metronome. visible from jan palach square (and from several places in prague) is a giant metronome on the top of a hillside. the metronome sits on a stone foundation that was originally built to support an imposing statue of josef stalin. the metronome is there to tell us about the rhythms of time. good bad good bad good bad.

layered histories. rhythms. the old foundation doesn't go away, but something new is put on top of it.

if you look at the prague skyline, your eyes will be drawn to several structures. first, the prague castle. the prague castle! then, the churches. the later they were built, the taller they are. and then, visible from almost anywhere in the city is the TV tower. it is a huge, ugly structure. and impractical. TV towers have an umbrella effect, so everyone under the tower had no television. so why'd they build it so big?

well, the communists were none too fond of christianity. neither were they fond of the pride in the czech national culture. the TV tower, taller than any other structure in prague, visible from anywhere in town, is/was an ironic symbol of the triumph of technology over history and over religion, as evidenced by the now assymetrical skyline.

more on communism in later entries, i'm sure.

the culture here is also layered. it would have to be. if you look at a map (an activity i've been frequently engaging in, now that i bought a european map, although it is all in czech!), you will notice that prague is in the geographical center of europe. it has basically been a dumping ground for all cultures moving in from the east, west, north, and south. it is totally surrounded. there has been a succession of ruling dynasties/regimes here that came from other places. for a long time, german was the language of the elite, and the language of the university. look at kafka- undeniably a czech writer, but he wrote in german.

i read the entire 'unbearable lightness of being' this weekend. i loved it. i want to absorb it and to understand every word. i don't think i would've understood any of it before i came here. it is a prague book, i think. it calls to mind the words of one of my favorite professors 'private lives, public crucibles.' it is about being individuals in a historical world. it is about a small cast of characters struggling to remain small enough to hide or becoming big enough to fight in the context of the crushing weight of communism. in it, prague sucks people in.

two of the characters escape to switzerland. one of them returns, the other knows she won't be able to come back to switzerland, so he follows her back in to prague. now they are both stuck. another character leaves and stays out; she is homeless for the rest of her life.


i guess what i'm trying to say is that the books resonates with me because i'm here and trying as hard as i can to understand what being here means. something about prague- the beauty, the geography, the history, seems to suck everything in and expel very little. hitler came to prague, and instead of destroying the jewish cemetery and all the synagogues, he decided that they would be monuments to a deceased race. maybe this was his reasoning, or maybe he looked around and realized that you can't pull things (cultures, ideas, buildings, histories) away from prague, because they would be made to heavy by the overwhelming gravity of the place.

maybe?


what am i doing here? i've been thinking about this a lot. how do i fit in here? i feel like i should be floating around the place in ballgowns and ridiculous, ornate hairstyles. i spend time in ex-pat hangouts. places i thought i would scorn, but where i feel comforted. it is easy to look to someone next to you at the bar and just speak to them in english. it feels good. it is hard to ask the shopkeeper if they have any zinc. it feels bad.

i took a class on the literature of colonialism last semester and was always annoyed at the characters who stayed in the protective circle of european functions and clubs. so why do i go to expat bars and restaurants? i went to the library and asked how i might go about using the internet without my internet card (i'd forgotten it at home). although the library lady told me she spoke english, she started yelling "your english is too hard for me. i have things to do. i have things to do." and then she said some words in angry czech and walked away. i was so sad and frustrated that i just went home and stayed there.

i've been recognizing unpleasant reactions to the czech people in myself. i feel cautious of them. i feel totally enamored with them. i want to know why they are who they are. but i should probably just see them as people, as individual and different as americans are to each other.

but i can't blame the library lady for yelling at me or the people here for not wanting to help me or speak to me. they all live in a culture that's been repeatedly invaded, if not literally (the austrian empire, nazism, communism), then figuratively. you can't see a mcdonald's disgracing the beautiful squares of the czech republic without your stomach turning. at least i can't.

i am a stranger here. i am an invader. i am an outsider, and an american. but i've been coming to terms with it. i'm not tired anymore. i've paused. and i feel better.

some friends of mine met goldie hawn and kurt russell. the same people also met ll cool j and hung out with his body guards all night at their apartment. this is another part of prague i haven't really figured out how to find. right now i'm focusing on the histories. i mean, ll cool j fits into this city of layered histories as much as the tv tower or even little tiny invader me. but right now i'm not going to try to do it all at once, like i thought i was supposed to. i'm staying here for months. i have time to sleep, and spend a pleasant night reading books with rhys, and write a blog entry (finally!), and have crazy ass dreams. i've been having crazy dreams.

yeah, so i guess i'll stop for now. i want to write about my current romantic situation, as it is almost as frustrating to me as not knowing czech. but i've been writing for a while. i'll leave you with one dream. it was very pretty, and ultimately pretty funny too.

so there were two glaciers and in between them a tiny valley with a still, clear blue pool. things were being thrown into the pool and then they were turning into silver spikes. i thought "i'm practically rich!" but then also, "what on earth would i do with so much silver in a valley between glaciers?" so i left them there to be pretty. it was very pretty. so i just thought i'd mention it to my parents when i was talking to them on the phone because i'd just woken up from this pretty dream and hadn't thought about it or what it meant. they both went "hmmmmm" and then mom said, "maybe you need to find a boyfriend."

ha. or maybe one just needs to come here. we can ballroom dance together, because zdenek's been teaching us.

tonight we're going to the opera.