Western Prague

I made plans to meet an old friend at the Hvězda Game Reserve, a popular park near the edge of Prague, which takes the name Hvězda (meaning “star”) after the star-shaped summer palace at its centre. I proposed the venue since I had never been to Hvězda before, despite the fact that the walls of the summer palace are a very familiar sight to anyone who commutes to Prague from the west.

Since I hadn’t visited Prague in a while, I decided to reach Hvězda from the city centre by foot. I began at the Church of Saint Peter at Poříčí, heading to Old Town Square via Republic Square, where a new bronze statue of a unicorn has recently appeared. The new sight that I was particularly excited to see, though, was the “new” Marian Column on Old Town Square.

A baroque column had been erected on Old Town Square as early as 1650 by Emperor Ferdinand III as thanks to the Virgin Mary for delivering Prague during the 30 Years’ War. The Czech National Revival of the 19^th century, however, strengthened public perception of the column as a symbol of the Habsburgs’ forced recatholicisation of the formerly Hussite (and thus Protestant) Czech lands. Several days after Czechoslovakia declared independence in 1918, an angry mob tore the column down.

Decades of discussions preceded the column’s eventual return to Old Town Square, which was formalised through its sanctification this August. The replica was modelled after fragments preserved at the Lapidarium of the National Museum, and the statues that originally stood around the base of the column have yet to be added.

On my way westwards through a rather empty Prague, I tried to focus on details I would usually pass by without a second glance. Without hordes of tourists pushing around, I could leisurely observe the decorations above the entrances on Nerudova Street, which is one of the busiest parts of Prague due to its position on the historic coronation route.

Leaving Prague Castle behind me, I made my way further to Strahov Monastery, from whence I walked in roughly the same direction to Břevnov Monastery. On the way, at my dad’s request, I made a slight detour to take pictures of a monstrous house built by an infamous politician in a relatively peaceful, suburban part of Prague.

On a map, the distance between Břevnov Monastery and Hvězda Game Reserve appears relatively short, but to my surprise, I arrived at Hvězda with very little time to spare. My friend and I made a small hike through the park, after which we climbed White Mountain, a(n in)famous hill where the Bohemian army together with a band of mercenaries were crushed in 1620 by Catholic forces, leading to the aforementioned subjugation and recatholicisation of the Czech lands. A cairn at the top of the hill commemorates the battle.

Our final stop was the park Ladronka, where I had to take many breaks from walking because my feet were killing me.