|
Soviet tank in Prague 1968 |
Czechoslovakia
was, until the fall of the Berlin Wall and the subsequent collapse of
the Soviet Union, one the SSRs (Soviet Socialist Republics).
(Remember the Prague Spring of 1968 when Soviet and Warsaw Pact tanks
appeared in Vaclav Square and put down an attempt at political
liberalization by Alexander Dubcek.)
There is
still an area of Prague where echoes of the Soviet era can still be
heard—or rather remnants of the finest and ugliest of Soviet era
buildings for Communist Party members and the proletariat can be
seen. In the theoretically classless society you can imagine who got
the finest buildings and who got the slum tenements.
|
guest house for high Party officials
now Hotel Crown Plaza Prague |
|
no longer red star |
We were
looking for a restaurant in the Dejvice District a short tram ride
north from our apartment. My wife wanted to try the roast duck that
is the restaurant's specialty. There happens to be an interesting
Soviet era building a 15-minute walk from the duck restaurant; we
decided to have a look at it. Built in the 1950s as a guest house for
Communist Party officials it is the largest example of so-called
Stalinist architecture in Prague. The building stands out from
everything around it complete with a no-longer red star on top and its blocky facade can't be missed even from afar. The beautiful entrance door is made
of brass and glass, while the lobby is decorated with black marble
facing and art deco elements here and there. There are some
interesting bas relief sculptures over the entrance that are typical
of Soviet art glorifying the proletariat, as well as some paintings
inside also depicting rather sentimental and idealized views of
peasant and worker life.
Oh, I
forgot to mention that the building is now a 5-star hotel—the Hotel
Crown Plaza
Prague.
|
bas relief over the entrance (1 of 3) |
|
brass and glass entrance door |
|
lobby |
|
art deco glass panes |
|
sentimentalized paintings of proletariat |
|
idealized painting of peasantry |
Walking
back to the tram stop we walked past what I took to be the more
prosaic Soviet era tenements that housed the ordinary workers who
were not necessarily Party members and probably never got to see the
inside of the Stalinist guest house.
|
stuccoed concrete - probablySoviet era housing
for ordinary workers |
2 comments:
I dare say…those communists of yester year are friggin' rolling over in their graves…THE PLAZA??!!!! LOL
-R
Yeah, ironic!
Post a Comment