Prague Journal—09.06.27

Saturday. Last Thursday Jitka Vaclavikova invited me to come to their flat for lunch (dinner) at noon today. They live in Modřany in one of the tall residential buildings not too far from where the church meets. I took the bus over and Petr met me at the stop and escorted me to their home. It was nice to see Jitka’s husband Arnost again as well. He and Petr had attended the English camp in 2007 (Arnost was wearing the T-shirt!). Jitka had prepared a nice meal for us, and afterward we headed for Prague to look around.

This weekend there is some kind of city-wide celebration, and many special events are schedule here and there. Among other things, several of the museums will be free of charge today. We decided to go the the City of Prague Museum (I have not been there before), which boasts a scale model (1:500) of central Prague—constructed of paper and wood over a 10+ year period (finished in 1834) by Antonin Langweil. What a remarkable model. It covers an area of about 25 sq. yds. The detail was astonishing—not only the craftsmanship, but the attention to detail throughout. Well worth seeing. There were several other interesting exhibits about the history and life of the city of Prague. There was also a special exhibit about Bohemian coinage. I am not a real fan of coin collecting, but it was interesting to read a little about the history of coinage and minting in the region over several centuries.

I was interested to see displays of several “hoards” of medieval coins that had been discovered (as recently as 2008) by archeological excavations or other work at various places around the city. Somebody hid their treasure for safe-keeping, but never got back to it, and their coins outlived them. This is the flip-side of the impermanence of “treasure on earth”—sometimes you money may last, but you won’t! (Sermon illustration here for tomorrow’s message.)

After we left the Prague City Museum we headed toward Old Town Square. We passed Petrské Tower and Petrské Square (where Jitka grew up), and then stopped in at the Brethren Church on Soukeniká St. where the Vaclavik family worships, and where Arnost serves as an elder. The building had the date 1907 on the outside, and the text of Romans 1:16 was printed on the front. The headquarters for the Brethren Church is located in the same building complex.

Petr and his sister Jitka live in a rented flat near Old Town Square, and as we were passing by, we dropped in for an impromptu coffee. It looks to be a 19th century building—big rooms and high ceilings.

As part of the city celebration, they had a sort of “medieval village” assembled in Old Town Square—blacksmiths, jugglers, food booths, etc.—along with a large performance stage, I presume for concert later in the evening. We walked over to watch the Old Town Clock do it’s thing, and then headed for the St. Agnes of Bohemia Convent, founded in 1234 by the sister of King Wenceslas I.

It now houses part of the National Gallery of Prague collection (mostly medieval religious art from Bohemia and Central Europe). It was only an hour before closing, so we had to hurry through the gallery—which was really no problem for me, as the medieval crucifixion altarpieces and madonna-and-child paintings all run together pretty quickly in one’s mind (unless you’re a trained art historian and can appreciate the technical differences from one artist/place/school to another). If you need an argument for the strictest application of the second commandment, this gallery will give it to you.

I really would have liked to have a look inside the gothic chapel, but they were setting up for another event later in the evening, so we were refused entry. Another time…

I bid farewell to Jitka and Petr who wanted to have a look at one more gallery, if possible, and Arnost and I headed for the metro—each to return home. It was a very pleasant afternoon in their generous and kind company.