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splendours, elegance and puffiness of
Prague baroque
From the vigorous recovery of the region and the city by the Habsburgs after 1678 (end of the Thirty Years' War), the baroque art of the Counter-Reformation developed with all its magnificence, its expressiveness, using all the beautiful artistic subterfuges (trompe l'oeil, monumental elevations in successive floors, ...) with incredible creative delusions, often stiff.
And when it dramatizes the scenes less, that it becomes more complex, the rococo is not far away, and the kitsch a few steps away ...
" Decorative effervescence, swirling lines, trompe-l'oeil illusions, theatricalization of gestures : all of them brilliantly put their art at the service of a quest for the infinite. "(Le Petit Fûté, at about this baroque).
some samples
of the pragois baroque
Where can you find Baroque in Prague?
They are first of all superb residences, mainly in the area of the embassies of "Petit Côté", others well preserved in the west of the Hradcany district, finally on and around the Place de la Vielle Ville.
quelques édifices baroques
some baroque buildings
On a sloping street on the "Petit Côté", opposite the US Embassy, the palace of the "Alchimists"
But it is of course also the innumerable bell towers in polylobed bulbs, or in square towers bristling with watchtowers (then of medieval origin), the cupolas of churches, chapels, convents, above red roofs, which characterize the city.
Yet this remarkable picturesque exterior panoramas, which is due to their diversity and the magnitude of the river ultimately seems to clearly stand out with sobriety from the sumptuous Baroque abundance inside the buildings, whose pompous opulence can end up tiring.
paysages typiques de la ville
typical landscapes
Prague Baroque
View of the castle from the "Petit Côté"
splendeurs et excessives exubérances
sumptuous harmonies of colors, learned and talented baroque trompe-l'oeil, excessive exuberance in Prague
Let us now enter under the naves of the churches.
Most have sumptuous and delicate harmonies of colors, quite unequaled. Grandeur and magnificence, more than solemnity.
Often in the multiple domes or the successive vaults are exalted with the inventiveness of talented trompe-l'oeil, which, down to the smallest detail, exploit the virtuosity of curves, curves, to the point that sometimes, we no longer know how to distinguish the architectural relief from flat representations.
And of course forcing you to look up, not only trompe-l'oeil but also neck-breaker and neck-screw.
St-Nicolas from the "Petit Côté"
Eglise St-Nicolas du "Petit Côté"
St-Nicolas from the "Petit Côté"
Eglise St-Nicolas de la Vieille-Ville
St-Nicolas from the "Petit Côté"
Eglise St-Gilles dans la Vieille-Ville
St-Nicolas from the "Petit Côté"
Couvent de Strahov (Hradcany),
Cabinet des Curiosités
Couvent de Strahov (Hradcany), Cabinet des Curiosités
But these very extraordinary achievements always include amazing gesticulating, stiff, tearful, powerful, painful, triumphant, most often monumental, always impressive sculpted representations, white marble statues, groups of gold. of silver, helical colonnades, multitudes of cherubs, cherubim and shining arrows, saints, popes and crowned kings ...
Certainly masterpieces taken individually, perfectly admirable and spectacular in keeping with the purpose of their creation, but with today's eye and in their overview, suffocating in detail and excess.
All the golds are so sparkling and polished that even the auto-focus systems of cameras seem to slip. on the blur of their curves, and only restore blur. Just return for excess.
Below, a modest anthology ...
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Another striking example is the magnificent and unheard-of delirium of the Chapel of the Nativity of the Church of Notre-Dame de Lorette to the west of the Hradcany district.
ND de Lorette à Hradcany
If we take our breath away, it's good from the overflow of cherubs and the exquisite. But it is a construction from the beginning of the 18th century, already strongly Rococo.
By lingering a little on this pleasant site, in addition to Lorette, we honor here "the Strong Virgin", a bearded virgin represented with an astonishing attention to detail ... baroque.
Indeed, the legend wants than the one who is also called "Sainte Débarras" (!), harassed by a pretending too active pagan, she who wanted to dedicate herself to God, begs the latter to perform a miracle.
And one night, the beard comes to him. She is crucified in her robe (only woman to be depicted crucified) by those she resisted, out of revenge or accused of witchcraft.
But neither the story (which doubts), nor the legend say if she was not already bearded ...
The church itself is of great exterior harmony, and its small cloister a kind of wonder, where there is a pleasant tranquility.
La Santa Casa
In its center, one reaches by a small door which does not look like the modest Santa Casa, copy of the original in Loreto in Italy, and which fits into this incredible building of the purely Renaissance style.
The little chapel offers beautiful wall frescoes stripped of its brick walls, from the beginning of the 17th century.
In its gallery on the 1st floor, the cloister exhibits very rich liturgical treasures.
The nail (not rusty at all) is a monstrance, called the "Sun of Prague", endowed with 53 gold rays on which are encrusted 6222 diamonds !!! He results from the story of a very wealthy Count of Bohemia, who, in 5th wedding party wife Ludmilla Kolowrat, whose wedding dress was adorned with these jewels, and who bequeathed them to the monks upon her death.
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