grand hotel europa (václavské náměstí, 25) is another fine example of architecture from a time when people pasted stickers from places they've been on their valises. like the hotel central, it was first designed by quidon belsky in 1889, and then reborn in the art nouveau style in 1903-05, through the masterful efforts of czech architects bedřich bendelmayer and alois* dryák, with interiors by bohumil hübschmann and jan letzel. i think the colors are quite kitschy, but how i wish i could examine all of the sculptural details up close! the interiors, it seems, have remained true to their original look, and there is a café inside, which i am making it my goal to visit.
since one of our lectors in history of czech graphic design is iva knobloch, the curator of the prints department at the museum of applied and decorative arts, we got an exclusive peek at the museum's private archives of printed material. due to a lack of exhibition space, the museum only exhibits one percent of its collection, and here were rooms piled to the ceiling with books, prints, and posters, and among the shelves and drawers were the employees' workspaces, also covered in papers, with other curiosities - like old typewriters - strewn about. a man was digging frantically in one of the square drawers, occasionally murmuring and gasping to himself. i wish i could work with archives, especially in such a lovely old place. the incredible things that would pass though my hands!
the lecture was about ladislav sutnar (1897-1976), top notch czech graphic designer and pioneer of "information design." iva laid out his books and the work he is best known for, the technical catalogues he designed for american clients. he really is a master at visually organizing boring technical information in a very beautiful and clean way, but two hours of detailed dissection of successful design elements in every catalogue from the 1930s to the 1950s was quite tiresome. at one point something happened - i felt heat rise up to my head and the color drain from my face - and i thought i would faint. i was alright but that was very strange.
hotel central (hybernská, 10) is one of the first art nouveau/jugendstil buildings in prague. at the very top, in golden lettering, are the names q. belsky and f. ohmann. from what i understand, the building was originally designed by quidon belsky and then redesigned in art nouveau/jugendstil by friedrich ohmann in 1900. unfortunately i could not find more information about the hotel, and the two art nouveau architecture sources i found do not agree on the years of completion or even the architects.
i woke up feeling very enthusiastic about art nouveau, so i visited the alfons mucha museum and then went in search of prominent art nouveau architecture throughout the city. i collected a few interesting examples but i don't believe in long blog posts, so i will do a little research to supplement my photographs and then introduce them separately. 
i went to prague 2 to vyšehrad, the "other" castle, situated on a hill over the river and completely free of crowds. the castle dates back to the 10th century, but the saint peter and saint paul basilica, the twin-spired neo-gothic cathedral in its center, was built in the late 19th. behind the cathedral is the vyšehrad cemetery, the final resting place of antonín dvořák, bedřich smetana, alfons mucha, and other famous czechs. 
many of the headstones have intricate detailing and the mausoleums surrounding the central plots are very beautiful, especially those decorated in art nouveau style:
this morning i took the metro to smíchov district in prague 5 to see the zlatý anděl ("golden angel") office building. the building was designed by the french architect jean nouvel and was completed in 2000. nouvel noticed that there are many houses in prague with painted façades, and wanted to find a modern way of "painting" the building. the crossroads at which the building stands is called anděl, so the picture nouvel imagined was of an angel guarding over prague. 
from today's history of graphic design lecture. films often appeared in czechoslovakia years later than their first international premiere. graphic designers often did not know what the film was about before creating the poster, and usually had a tight deadline and one photograph to work with. the information on the poster was limited to the title of the film, the name of the director, and sometimes a brief description. all of these factors had a significant impact on the design, and often produced a more interesting result. above left, the original international theatrical poster for federico fellini's "8 1/2" from 1963, and right, the czechoslovakian poster from 1964, by bedřich dlouhý.
last tuesday, when the city gallery was discovered closed and exhibition-less, our weekly guide zuzana bauerova took the group to the uměleckoprůmyslové museum v praze (the museum of applied arts in prague), which currently has on exhibit beautifully designed objects for everyday use, and especially the most precious, cutest little wooden toys from the czech artěl applied arts scene of the early 20th century. no photography allowed in the museum, so i drew some of them instead.
